Even after the horror of the Grenfell Fire, millions of people are still living in homes with cheap, inflammable cladding – and the effort to fix it has stalled. Steve Cole, head of corporate strategy at the housing association Clarion, and Inside Housing’s award-winning editor Peter Apps tell Naomi Smith about a scandal that’s been inexcusably neglected, how austerity paved the way for this tragedy, and how to force the Government to take action before another disaster.

“There are up to 4.6m flats affected by dangerous cladding and that’s 11m people. That’s equivalent to the entire population of London.” – Peter Apps
“British homes are like US cars. They’re only energy efficient because they run on cheap fuel.” – Steve Cole
“Why should the taxpayer pay to fix a problem of the construction industry?” – Peter Apps
“Regulation isn’t worth much of it’s not enforced… Austerity took a lot of expertise and enforcement out of local government.” – Steve Cole

Presented by Naomi Smith. Produced by Andrew Harrison. Assistant producers Jacob Archbold and Jelena Sofrenijevic. Music by Kenny Dickinson. Audio production by Alex Rees. The Bunker is a Podmasters Production.

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Short Cuts For a Better Life