Hall of Shame
Darren Levy (Director of Housing)
According to his linkedin profile, Darren Levy is well into his fourth year as Director of Housing for Newham council, yet the only thing that has happened during this time is that the housing department has sunk further down the toilet and continues to get worse by the day. Never did I ever believe we would get to the point where I would look back at the way things were run 10 years ago and see those as the glory days, but well here we are. He even managed to screw up the one area of Newham council that actually used to function efficiently which was the noise team. You could report a noise disturbance and they would have officers on your doorstep to resolve it within a couple of hours, but as soon as Mr Levy took over, it became just like every other council department where you report things until you are blue in the face, then give up through sheer exhaustion.
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The only time when I have ever seen him in person was at the Stratford Housing forum held at Stratford Town hall in June of last year, and I'm struggling to understand why he even bothered to turn up, as all he did was hide in the corner looking socially awkward, trying his best to avoid making eye contact with, or speaking to anyone. I don't know whether he thought that his presence there was supposed to be merely symbolic like he's the Queen or something, but the sheer fact that he didn't feel it necessary to go around the room and talk to some of the tenants who have been screwed over on his watch speaks volumes about how fit he is for purpose. The whole idea of these local area forums is utterly ridiculous, because if you need the people whose housing needs you are responsible for to tell you what is wrong with the department it is your job to run, then you shouldn't be in your job in the first place. Do you see Tesco running local area forums asking customers how to keep their shops running efficiently and shelves stacked with food?
But of course he doesn't know what is wrong, because as is always the case in these circumstances, the person at the top doesn't have a clue what is going on at the bottom, and maybe if he actually got off his backside and found out instead of sitting in his office all day wanking to his own self-importance, he might actually achieve something of value. If Tesco was run the way Darren Levy runs Newham's housing department, the stores would be in utter chaos and there would be no food on the shelves. If that was the case, do you think the Managing Director of Tesco would still be in his job? So why is Darren Levy still in his? He has known full well of the problems I have been through over the last 15 years, including the disgusting behaviour of his assistant director of housing, and he has done nothing to resolve it and has ignored all the correspondence I have sent him on the matter. Darren Levy is not fit for purpose, nor will he ever be, and nothing will change until he is removed from his position.