Mayor delivers over 26,000 more affordable homes for London
10 JUNE 2010
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, today called upon the new government to protect vital investment in housing as he announced that he is more than halfway towards delivering 50,000 affordable homes, a record number for Londoners, by 2012 despite challenging economic conditions.
The Mayor, who is investing over £1 billion a year through the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA), was speaking at the opening of a UK flagship supported housing scheme, Arlington, in north London; a new model for community living providing vocational onsite training as well as accommodation and recreational spaces for the homeless.
The Mayor, who has now delivered 26,014 affordable homes over the past two years, believes that it is more crucial than ever that investment continues in high quality, good value affordable housing, especially family sized social rented housing to tackle overcrowding. He said:
“Despite hugely challenging economic circumstances, we are well underway to deliver a record number of new affordable homes - 50,000 by 2012, including the largest proportion of family sized units for a decade. But it is vital that London’s housing problems do not choke off growth in the capital and resulting national prosperity and this needs continued investment.
“We are making great strides in tackling overcrowding and these new homes will house families who desperately need them, safeguard jobs and help to cut housing benefit bills, which last year reached £20 billion in the UK, by reducing the need to house people in expensive temporary accommodation. Continuing to invest in London is investing in the rest of the country. You need Londoners housed and working to fuel the motor driving the UK economy into lasting recovery.”
The Mayor is committed to ensuring that by the end of 2012 no one will live on the streets in London. Today, he also outlined an unprecedented agreement reached with the London boroughs through the London Delivery Board that by the end of 2012 no individual arriving on the streets will sleep out for a second night.
David Orr, Chief Executive, National Housing Federation said: "Arlington House is an excellent initiative which recognises the importance of not only finding people a home but also of giving them a chance of work. We welcome the Mayor's determination to end rough sleeping by 2012.
“It is essential that the government maintains its investment in affordable housing both in the capital and throughout the UK. Providing good and decent accommodation not only provides a place people can call home but also helps prevent serious health and educational problems. There has never been a more important time to invest in housing which can help end massive overcrowding and growing waiting lists."
Campbell Robb, Chief Executive, Shelter said: "The capital has some of the greatest housing need in the country, with 330,000 children living in overcrowded homes, over 350,000 on housing waiting lists and an expensive private rented sector. The only way to tackle London's housing crisis is to build more affordable housing, particularly social rented homes for those in greatest need.
"Shelter welcomes the Mayor's commitment to delivering family-sized affordable homes and we echo his call on the government to protect investment in housing to help deliver homes and jobs not just in London, but across the country."
Sarah Webb, Chief Executive, Chartered Institute of Housing said: "I'm delighted that George Osborne has committed to making housing a front line service. However, CIH believes this commitment must go hand-in-hand with ongoing investment in new homes. In London the need for affordable housing is stark - a shortfall in investment would hit thousands of families hard, as well lead to economic pain in the construction sector and housing supply chain."
Despite London’s prosperity, half of England’s rough sleepers are found in London and over three quarters of the country’s households in temporary accommodation are found in the capital. Overcrowding is rapidly growing and since 1997 London’s housing waiting lists have increased by over 50 per cent.
Seven of the eight biggest UK regeneration projects are currently under development in London, and all include substantial numbers of new homes. Maintaining housing investment in London pumps large amounts of money into the sector as a whole enabling the delivery of many projects outside the capital.
MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Press information is available from Fiona Laurent on 0207 983 4635 or Rebecca Miller on 0207 983 4754 emails: fiona.laurent@london.gov.uk; rebecca.miller@london.gov.uk
GENERAL PUBLIC/NON-MEDIA ENQUIRIES: Call the Public Liaison Unit at the Greater London Authority on 020 7983 4100
DUTY PRESS OFFICER: For out-of-hours media enquiries, please call 020 7983 4000
Note to editors:
1. ARLINGTON
The Arlington House project is run by the One Housing Group, a not for profit housing association.
The refurbishment of Arlington House is funded by the government’s £80 million Places of Change Programme (PCP) aiming to increase the number of homeless people moving on to independent accommodation; and increase the number of clients moving into education and employment.
2. FIGURES:
26,014 affordable homes (13,262 social rent and 12,752 intermediate homes) have already been delivered in London in the first two years of the Mayor’s term.
|
Completions |
||
|
2008/09 |
Social Rent |
6,270 |
|
|
Intermediate |
6,860 |
|
|
|
13,130 |
|
2009/10 |
Social Rent |
6,992 |
|
|
Intermediate |
5892 |
|
|
|
12,884 |
|
|
||
|
2008/10 |
Social Rent |
13,262 |
|
|
Intermediate |
12,752 |
|
Total |
26,014 |
|
A table showing completions for London boroughs is attached.
For 2008/09 the number of completions has been taken from data collected by the Department for Communities and Local Government and are sourced from Tables 1001.1002 and 1003 found at http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingresearch/housingstatistics/housingstatisticsby/affordablehousingsupply/livetables/. Please note that this data is rounded up to the nearest 10.
For 2009/10 only completions funded by HCA London’s investment programmes have been used. These will be underwritten as official statistics by the ONS in due course.
The total affordable housing completions for 2009/10 will be published by CLG later this year, which is likely to be a larger number because it includes other sources of affordable housing such as homes built with no grants, empty homes brought back into use and homes using other sources of public resources.
3. ROUGH SLEEPING IN LONDON
Half of all England's rough sleepers are found in London
During 2008/09, almost 3,500 people were recorded as sleeping rough on London’s streets
Almost 60 per cent of these are new to the streets
The majority (57 per cent) of the new rough sleepers spend only one night on the streets having found their own way off or having been helped off by services in London
Those that remain on the streets often have or risk acquiring complex issues involving mental ill health, drug and alcohol abuse and physical ill health – 80 per cent of rough sleepers have one or all of these issues
4. LONDON DELIVERY BOARD
Boris Johnson is committed to end rough sleeping in London by the end of 2012
In February 2009 the Mayor launched the London Delivery Board to provide the cross-sectoral, cross-authority partnership necessary to end rough sleeping in the capital.
The Board, the first of its kind in London, is chaired by the Mayor’s Housing Advisor Richard Blakeway
Members include nine central London boroughs, government departments (Communities and Local Government, Dept Work and Pensions, Health) and agencies (UK Borders Agency) and voluntary sector providers
By ending rough sleeping we mean: By the end of 2012 no one will live on the streets of London, and no individual arriving on the streets will sleep out for a second night
In the last year the work of the Board members has seen three quarters of London’s 205 most entrenched rough sleepers come off the streets among other achievements.
5. London as the region with the greatest need for housing is well demonstrated by the below:
Information on homelessness is taken from CLG, Statutory homelessness data, Quarter 4, 2009
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/homelessnessq42009?view=Standard
Information on overcrowding is available at: CLG, Survey of English Housing, 2008
http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/sehprelimresults0708
Data on London’s housing waiting lists is taken from CLG, Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix data, 2009
http://www.communities.gov.uk/documents/housing/xls/1393618.xls
6. A recent study estimated that the financial costs on frontline services of inadequate housing totalled over £4billion annually for health and crime and over £14 billion for education (in terms of lost earnings for children).
Social impact of poor housing, Ecotec, March 2010
http://www.housing.org.uk/Uploads/File/Policy%20briefings/Social%20impact%20of%20poor%20housing.pdf
7. The top eight national regeneration projects are:
(1) Olympic Park, east London
(2) Leith Waterfront, Edinburgh
(3) Brent Cross Cricklewood, north west London
(4) Greenwich Peninsula, south east London
(5) Wembley City, north west London
(6) Canning Town and Custom House, east London
(7) Barking Riverside, east London
(8) Kings Cross Central, central London
Top 100 regeneration projects 2010, Regeneration and Renewal, 2010
