Survivors say government is going through the motions and risks allowing another disaster

Survivors and bereaved of Grenfell Tower are to tell the government that it risks allowing a second disaster by “going through the motions” and failing to tackle the root causes of the fire.

They will address the housing secretary, James Brokenshire, at an event in parliament on Monday. The second anniversary of the blaze is on Friday and tens of thousands of people are still living in dangerous homes, the public inquiry has been beset by delays, and promises to give council tenants a bigger voice have not yet been delivered.

Some of the survivors and bereaved are so disappointed by the slow pace of action and angered by what they see as a failure to give priority to their concerns that they are considering boycotting the second phase of the inquiry, which is due to start next year, the Guardian understands.

Friday’s commemorations for the 72 people who died in the fire will include a church service, a vigil near the block and a silent evening march through the surrounding streets.

Grenfell United, the group of bereaved and survivors, has spent most of the past two years in close contact with cabinet ministers and the prime minister and has concluded that “in most cases those in power simply aren’t interested in acting on our concerns”.

The group said: “They go through the motions of meeting us so they can say they have listened and then fail to take the action necessary to bring about change. We are not naive and are prepared to be patient. But it is becoming increasingly apparent not only that the system isn’t changing fast enough but that it’s not even going in the right direction.”

Two years on from the fire:

17 families remain in temporary accommodation, including one in a hotel, in spite of initial promises by Theresa May that all would be rehoused within three weeks.

Tens of thousands of high-rise residents are still living in towers wrapped in banned Grenfell-style cladding, with 338 residential and publicly owned buildings yet to be fixed.

An estimated 500,000 social housing tenants have reported the same fault more than 10 times to their landlord in the past three years, according to a poll by the housing charity Shelter.

The public inquiry report on what happened on the night of the fire has been delayed until October.

A police investigation into possible manslaughter, corporate manslaughter and health and safety offences is not expected to conclude until late 2021, meaning any trials would not start until about five years after the fire.

Grenfell United said: “The community is still suffering, justice has been delayed and it seems the government appears to be backing off from making the changes to social housing needed to prevent another Grenfell. Enough is enough.”

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, accused the prime minister of a “dismal lack of action”, which he called “utterly shameful”. In a letter to May, he said building regulations remained largely unchanged and a promised new social housing policy remained unpublished.

“Your claim [in her resignation speech] that your response to Grenfell was one of your biggest achievements as prime minister is far from the truth,” Khan said. “Rather, it is a legacy of your premiership that vulnerable people in our society have been let down, continuously neglected and clearly ignored.

“The response to the social housing green paper, lauded as the government’s answer to the institutional indifference that social housing residents have faced for years, is still not published. This is unacceptable.”

John Healey, the shadow housing secretary, called for councils to seize high-rise blocks from owners who had not replaced Grenfell-style cladding by the end of this year. “Many private tower block owners have shown zero sign of replacing their cladding and ministers are letting them drag their feet,” he said.

A government spokesperson said everyone from Grenfell had a permanent home reserved for them and 92% had moved in, and more than £100m had been spent supporting the community.

“In addition, the government has made £600m available to replace unsafe aluminium composite material cladding from high-rise homes in this country,” the spokesperson said.

Elizabeth Campbell, the leader of Kensington and Chelsea council, said: “Council staff have never stopped caring and never stopped working, and this will continue to be the case when every family is in their new home and starting to rebuild their lives. The council will never ignore its duty to those affected by the Grenfell tragedy.”