Public housing in the UK has long turned into a racket for well-connected individuals. Basically councils have sold off most of their stock, due to pressure from Thatcher (and all subsequent governments) to lower expenses. Houses were passed to companies run by well-positioned cronies, for very low prices; these companies collect rent, making money that ends up spent mostly on salaries. Any extra work inevitably ends up either paid by the local authority one way or the other, or done in the cheapest possible way. So councils can wash their hands of it, for the most part, while their cronies collect good money. In other countries it would be called corruption or mafia; in England it’s just the way it is.
Edit: this is not unique to housing, btw. Pretty much all “privatisation” schemes, past and present, end up being scams that benefit people in key roles. In my lifetime, and over two countries, I’ve still to see one such scheme that doesn’t end up with “crony X makes millions, public service degrades”.
