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London's boroughs fail to build enough affordable homes
Katharine Barney22 Mar 2010
Only two London boroughs have built enough affordable homes to match demand, a report published today reveals.
Shelter's housing league table claims that nearly all councils are failing to deliver a sufficient number of affordable homes, with only Bexley and Bromley meeting demand.
The housing charity's report claims that 28 boroughs provided fewer than half of the number of homes they identified as needing — leaving 350,000 families on waiting lists. It says that 10 boroughs provided less than 10 per cent.
Barnet, Kensington and Chelsea, Richmond and Westminster met five per cent or less of their housing demand.
The report comes after Boris Johnson was forced to row back on his pledge to build 50,000 affordable homes in London by next year. He has now promised to deliver them by 2012 and said 20,000 homes have been built since he became Mayor in 2008 “despite the huge financial maelstroms”.
Shelter's chief executive Campbell Robb said: “These figures clearly show that London boroughs must work even harder to provide significantly more affordable homes if they ever hope to meet the housing needs of their local population.
"With more than 350,000 households on the capital's housing waiting lists and one in five London children living in overcrowded homes, it is unacceptable that only two boroughs have provided enough affordable homes to meet their local need.”
Councillor Steve Reed, executive member for housing at London Councils, which represents all the boroughs, said: “Many boroughs will feel that these figures from Shelter do not accurately reflect what is happening on the ground.
“Every week the London boroughs make sure an estimated 500 families do not become homeless. Levels of homelessness are down by 22 per cent over the past year and the number of families in temporary accommodation is down by 18 per cent. This is the lowest level for many years.”
The Mayor's housing adviser, Richard Blakeway, said: “We know that councils can often be hampered in their efforts to build more affordable homes by the constraints of the national system.
“That is why the Mayor is proposing to give them a greater say over local housing investment in exchange for firm commitments to deliver more of the high quality affordable housing London needs.”
A spokesman for Kensington and Chelsea said: “Competition for land is fierce and social landlords are priced out of the market. The borough is reliant on achieving affordable housing through planning agreements, within which the council has an excellent track record.”
ONLY TWO COUNCILS MEET HOUSING NEED
Shelter's figures showing percentage of demand met
Bexley 138
Bromley 127
Wandsworth 83
Southwark 74
Lewisham 73
Tower Hamlets 47
Havering 45
Greenwich 43
Redbridge 40
Newham 34
Sutton 28
Merton 27
Hackney 19
Ealing 17
Barking and Dagenham 16
Hounslow 15
Croydon 15
Enfield 15
Brent 14
Waltham Forest 14
Hammersmith and Fulham 13
Islington 13
Lambeth 11
Harrow 9
Hillingdon 8
Haringey 6
City of London 6
Kingston 6
Camden 6
Barnet 5
Richmond 5
Westminster 4
Kensington and Chelsea 3
