Phoenix Community Housing Association was found to have hundreds of remedial fire safety actions overdue in the most recent inspection by the Regulator of Social Housing (RSH)
Following the latest inspection by officials from the RSH, Phoenix Community Housing Association has had both its governance and consumer ratings downgraded. Phoenix, a not-for-profit resident-led housing association in Lewisham, currently owns and manages more than 7,600 homes, and has plans to build further homes for its portfolio.
A previous inspection in June 2024 had found 230 overdue remedial fire safety actions that had been identified as medium risk as part of the fire risk assessment process. At the time, Phoenix told the RSH that it had “appropriate plans” to address the outstanding issues by March 2025. However, this number was found to have increased to 862 overdue actions by June 2025, with the latest figures showing 427 still remaining in September 2025.
The RSH has confirmed that Phoenix has been given assurances that there are “no high-risk actions outstanding” and that the housing association has a plan to address all overdue actions by May 2026.
In the decision paper, published on 29 October, the RSH found some weaknesses in delivering the outcomes of the consumer standards, and in downgrading their rating from C1 to C2 said:
“While Phoenix takes reasonable steps to ensure the health and safety of its tenants and has demonstrated it understands the condition of its homes, improvements are needed to ensure remedial actions from fire risk assessments (FRA) are dealt with in a timely manner.”
The regulator also found that “the landlord does not meet our governance requirements. There are issues of serious regulatory concern and in agreement with us the landlord is working to improve its position.”
As a result of these findings Phoenix’s governance rating was also downgraded, from G2 to G3, with the RSH saying “significant improvement is needed” in this area.
In a response issued on the Phoenix website, the housing associations chair, Gavin Wallen, and chief executive, Denise Fowler, said: “We recognise that there is a lot of work for our Board and our organisation to do. With a new Chair, strengthened Board, our excellent staff team and our exceptionally high resident satisfaction and engagement, we can address the issues identified in this judgement. Our financial position also remains strong.
“We are committed to working with the regulator to ensure that Phoenix continues to thrive as a resident led Community Gateway.”