• THE housing crisis can be helped well ahead of any major schemes and policies with the advent of the new Social Housing (Regulation) Act which provides for new ombudsman involvement, (Housing chaos: the root cause of widespread misery, Comment, October 26).

The existing housing ombudsman is the latest in a long line of ineffectual people who I believe have done virtually nothing to stem the waste and misery that exists in the social housing sector.

I have to go back to the late 1990s to remember the supportive, helpful and friendly deputy ombudsman, Rafael Runco, who did his best.

But being the deputy, in the end, he was not able to see improvements implemented. Since his move from that office, I have seen nothing but passive aggression and failure, with no redeeming features. Confirmation of his performance can be seen on his Trustpilot page at https://tinyurl.com/housingombudsman

The new act is a new opportunity for a new chapter but for this to be successful, we need a new ombudsman or this chance will be wasted.

I urge everyone interested to email their views to Michal Gove, the secretary of state for housing, at this address: correspondence@levellingup.gov.uk – and then we may be looking forward to a less wasteful, less stupid, less miserable, brighter, future.

PETER RUTHERFORD, NW6