London Desperately Needs More Family Homes

Florence Eshalomi MP said at least 90,000 social homes need building per annum to tackle the crisis, reports MyLondon.

A South London MP in charge of a parliamentary housing committee says the biggest change needed to address the housing crisis is building more family-sized properties. Florence Eshalomi MP, who runs the Housing, Communities and Local Government Committee, said according to data provided by Shelter, Crisis and Savills, at least 90,000 social homes need building per annum to tackle the crisis. However there’s a particular need for family-sized homes to get children out of temporary accommodation (TA) and reduce housing waiting lists.

The Vauxhall and Camberwell Green MP told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I’ve pressed the Deputy Prime Minister on the 1.5m [housing target], how many are going to be social affordable homes. It’s important we get those figures because then that can help key areas including London to deliver on those targets.”

It comes as new analysis from think tank Centre for London found three in five London renters said rent was unaffordable to them personally, while over half of respondents (55per cent) said rent was one of the top three biggest problems with London’s housing market. The think tank also found the upfront costs of meeting London’s annual housing targets was an estimated £2.2 billion. These upfront costs – an estimate of the combined costs of the Building Safety Levy, Section 106, Community Infrastructure Levy and planning fees in London – are 43 times higher than the West Midlands, and 36 times higher than Greater Manchester. This is believed to be putting off developers from building affordable homes in the city. Separately, a report by London Councils revealed 90,000 children are currently living in temporary accommodation in London. This equates to one child in every classroom living in TA.

Antonia Jennings, Chief Executive at Centre for London, said it was clear the government needed to face London’s housing crisis head on. She said: “The problems are both acute and foundational. The solutions must be both immediate and long-term. The changes made thus far are encouraging – we’ve seen increased investment in the Affordable Homes Programme, planning reform that allows building on low-quality sections of the green belt and the new Renters Reform Bill. But, these are only the very first steps. We urgently need ambitious solutions that respond to the scale of the challenges facing the capital. From historic levels of homelessness to the sky-high costs of building new homes, the Government must get behind London’s leaders and invest in the capital to finally turn the corner on the housing crisis.”

The LDRS has previously covered how households in Ms Eshalomi’s constituency of Lambeth have expressed alarm at the dwindling number of larger social homes available to bid on, meaning families in need of three or four bedrooms have virtually no chance of finding a suitable home. Many have been on Lambeth Council’s housing register for over a decade. The families, who are either living in overcrowded conditions or staying outside of the borough far from their workplaces and kids’ schools, claim they’re lucky if a single three or four-bedroom flat appears each month. They say the apparent decrease in the number of larger properties available has left them stressed and feeling hopeless about their chances of ever securing a suitable home. One of the residents, Consuelo Gutierrez Collazo, said she has moved between temporary accommodation six times in the 10 years she has been waiting for a council house in Lambeth. The 41-year-old is currently living in an outer London borough with her three children, aged 10, six and four.

Marianela Ramos Apiricio, who has been waiting 11 years for a council house, said the drop in suitable homes appearing through Lambeth’s bidding system was a ‘very bad’ development. The 33-year-old currently pays £1,600 per month for a two-bedroom flat she rents off a private landlord in Wandsworth and shares with her daughter, 13, and son, 11. She said: “At the moment, it’s a struggle. There’s usually just one property that has three bedrooms in a month, sometimes zero. A property a month is not enough for all the people needing one.”

A Lambeth Council spokesperson said at the time: “The shortage of family-sized accommodation and the need to use temporary accommodation is driving our need to make huge savings as a council. Homeless households supported by the council have increased by 50 per cent in the last two years and the cost of housing homeless households in overnight accommodation is expected to reach £100 million this year. It’s not just Lambeth that this is impacting. London Councils have reported that London boroughs are forecast to overspend on their original budget plans for this financial year by more than £700 million. Homelessness represents the largest single driver of London boroughs’ current financial pressures.”