Community Initiative Provides Flooring to 1,400 Social Housing Residents

When Pia Honey’s house underwent an extension in 2021, the builders intended to dispose of her old flooring in a skip, which surprised her given its excellent condition. Instead, Ms. Honey advertised the carpet on Facebook, and three families subsequently received a share. “All three were single parents living in social housing with no floor covering,” Pia, 55, says. “Each one told me the council had removed the previous carpets before they moved in.” This experience ultimately prompted the establishment of her community interest company, No Floor No More, which supplies second-hand carpets to social housing tenants who would otherwise contend with bare floors. Ms. Honey, who resides in St Albans, describes it as “disgusting” that properties managed by councils and housing associations are routinely left with incomplete floor coverings. She estimates having supplied flooring to approximately 1,400 properties and is actively campaigning for flooring to be a standard provision in social housing. A recent survey indicates that three-quarters of new social housing tenancies are provided with either no flooring or only partial floor coverings. Aileen Edmunds, chief executive of Longleigh Foundation, an organization that supports social housing tenants, highlights that the quality of social housing, including the provision of flooring, can profoundly impact residents’ lives. “We hear some really shocking stories,” she says. “For example, people are more likely to return to the perpetrators of domestic abuse if where they’ve been rehoused doesn’t feel like a home. We’ve heard of children being embarrassed to bring their friends round to play.” “Just simple things like having to wear shoes indoors and not wanting your baby to crawl on the floor. It’s massively stigmatising to not have flooring.” The National Housing Federation, which represents housing associations, states that in social housing, carpets have historically been removed between tenancies as standard practice, citing practical and hygienic reasons. In some cases, housing associations provide new flooring as standard when a home is re-let, or they offer decorating vouchers to new tenants, the federation noted. Following her extension, Pia continued to receive messages from individuals seeking flooring. “I didn’t have any more carpet but I wanted to help,” she says. “I started asking around. I asked carpet fitters for offcuts. “Things escalated and I started collecting second-hand flooring from all over the place.” “I’ve had lorry-loads of carpet from conference venues, high-end retailers have given me good quality carpet with slight defects. I’ve even had carpet left over from Warner Brothers’ film sets.” Pia allocates her week between her part-time beauty therapy job, caring for her grandchildren, and the collection and redistribution of substantial quantities of carpet and lino. She sells the carpets at significantly reduced prices, with the proceeds reinvested into No Floor No More to cover some operational costs. She also funds the initiative using money from the sale of her late mother’s house. “I believe in what I’m doing so I’m happy to carry it financially for now,” she says. Her local authority, St Albans City and District Council, stated: “Tenants are asked to remove all flooring such as carpets before the property is handed back.” It explained that flooring might be in poor condition or that pets could have posed a risk of flea infestations. “In some instances, flooring may be gifted to the incoming tenant,” the council said. Sidony West recently received carpet from Pia after she and her three children had lived with bare floorboards for more than two years. In 2014, Ms. West was offered a social housing flat in Bushey, Hertfordshire, having escaped a violent relationship. The flat lacked floor coverings, prompting her to take out a loan to install linoleum throughout. However, upon moving to a housing association property in Borehamwood in 2022, Sidony was instructed to dispose of the lino, which she described as “immaculate.” “I was told I’d be charged £1,200 if I left the flooring behind,” she says. Hightown housing association, Sidony’s former landlord, states that flooring in “good condition” will be left in place, adding: “If it is in a poor state, and in line with sector practice, we will remove it because of hygiene and contamination risks for the new resident.” However, Sidony asserts that her flooring was never inspected and has shown the BBC her end of tenancy agreement, which instructed her to remove carpets, underlay, gripper rods, and laminate flooring. Sidony’s new property also came without floor coverings. “One of my boys has kidney problems and asthma,” she says. “Because there was no carpet it was so cold.” She added, “I was going further into debt to pay our energy bills to keep the children warm.” Earlier this year, Sidony successfully obtained carpet for the three bedrooms, hallway, and stairs through Pia. She says Pia shared contact details for a carpet fitter who laid them “for next to nothing.” “It was such an incredible feeling,” Sidony says. “After he left, we just kept running up and down the stairs and taking a look at our new carpets.” Neal Wylde, from Beeston Regis in Norfolk, is another social housing tenant who is well acquainted with the absence of carpet. He moved into his property 13 years ago and was met with dusty concrete floors. “I use a wheelchair and the dust from the concrete left tyre tracks everywhere. “It was especially bad leaving the wet bathroom floor and going back into the corridor. It was cold and depressing.” He continued, “It didn’t feel like home, it felt like we were squatting… it was embarrassing. “The neighbours wanted to come round and say hello but we didn’t want to let them in. Christmas that year was bleak and lonely.” He added, “The neighbours told us the previous tenant was an elderly lady who kept the property in good condition – including the carpet.” Mr. Wylde advocates for a change in the policy regarding social housing flooring, questioning, “Why are they ripping up perfectly good carpets and putting them in landfill?” Orbit, Neal’s housing association, stated that it only removes carpets as a “last resort” if they cannot be “cleaned or if they are damaged beyond repair.” In Wales, a national change has occurred following a campaign by the tenant engagement group TPAS Cymru. From April 2024, all social landlords in Wales must provide “suitable and quality flooring throughout the whole of the home” in all new social housing lettings. Other campaigners urge the rest of the UK to adopt similar practices. “If, as a landlord, you can’t afford to put flooring in as standard practice, please just stop ripping perfectly decent flooring out,” says Aileen, the chief executive of Longleigh Foundation. “Give the next tenant a choice.”