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Property expert PHIL SPENCER lifts the lid on the nation’s socialhousing crisis

new housing Phil spencer: Find Me a home Tuesday, Channel 4 hd, 9pm

WITH THE GRENFELL TOWER tragedy putting Britain’s social housing firmly in the headlines, this timely documentary follows Phil Spencer as he tries to re-house two families who, like those who survived the Grenfell Tower fire, face homelessness through no fault of their own.

After living in a B&B and a hostel, working couple Corvel and Meyrem and their young son were housed in a cockroach- and rat-infested council flat in south London, for which they were paying a staggering £900 a month, but faced eviction when the block was condemned.

Meanwhile, Bibi and her teenage son Oscar were having no luck finding a place to live after being evicted from their home of 15 years.

‘We simply don’t have enough houses,’ explains Spencer. ‘In terms of social housing, so many of them have been sold off and we’re not replacing the housing stock.’

Bibi and Oscar had come to the end of a private tenancy and, as Spencer discovered, securing a private rental when you are on benefits can be hugely difficult.

‘We spoke to 46 estate agents and got two viewings!’ he reveals. ‘The landlord, if they are willing to let to someone on benefits, has to have a mortgage and an insurance company that allows that. There are so many hoops to jump through.’

In the wake of the Grenfell Tower fire, he hopes some good can come out of the tragedy. ‘What Grenfell has done is expose the acute lack of good quality, affordable housing.’