Thousands of aging council homes across the capital are set to be renovated and repaired, thanks to a £145 million funding boost from the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson.
From replacing dilapidated roofs, doors and windows, to rewiring, and updating outmoded bathrooms and kitchens, the funds will be used on internal and external repairs to help improve living conditions for thousands of local authority residents, across nine London boroughs.
Improvements will soon be underway in Barking and Dagenham, Hackney, Haringey, Tower Hamlets, Camden, Lambeth, Kingston upon Thames, Southwark and Sutton, with the funds secured by the Mayor through the Government’s ‘Decent Homes Backlog Funding ’ programme. In addition to these borough improvements, the Mayor’s RE:NEW support team is ensuring plans are in place to make council-owned homes as energy efficient as possible.
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson said: “As London’s population continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, and we strive to double the number of new homes being built across the capital, maintaining the quality of London’s essential existing housing stock is vital. These improvement works, in those homes in most urgent need of repair, are essential to ensure a decent quality of life for thousands of Londoners.”
Housing Minister, Brandon Lewis said: “The Government is giving London this significant funding boost, which will improve the lives of thousands of council tenants by bringing their homes up to a Decent Standard. And the changes we have brought in to protect leaseholders will help tenants by ensuring the repairs on their home get done without landlords imposing unreasonable charges.”
New government legislation for councils and housing associations will limit the amount leaseholders can be charged for future major repair, maintenance, or improvement works when they are wholly or partly funded by the government. The £145 million funding is in addition to the £821 million share of the Decent Homes programme, agreed with the government and committed to 14 boroughs during 2011-15 to help transform social housing in the worst conditions. As part of the bidding process each borough was required to review the potential for additional building of homes on their estates.
Creating enough good quality homes for hardworking Londoners is one of the Mayor’s top priorities. He is on track to deliver 100,000 new low cost homes over his two terms and has introduced a range of innovative new measures to boost affordable housing, stimulate building and fast track the delivery of thousands of much needed new homes of all types. These include new Housing Zones, Purpose Built Private Rented Schemes and a new London Housing Bank.
Notes to editors
1, The Decent Homes programme was a ten year initiative introduced to improve the condition of council homes. Not all councils were able to meet the target to bring their homes up to the Decent Homes standard by the end of 2010. The Government has committed to provide London with backlog funding for those boroughs that have not been able to meet the 2010 target after the 2011-15 programme. Following the 2013 Spending Review additional funds were announced for 2015/16 for eligible councils and Arms Length Management Organisations in order to tackle the Decent Homes backlog. This funding will put each eligible borough landlord in a position to deal with the maintenance and repair of their stock independently from 2016/17.
2, The Mayor is on track to deliver 100,000 low cost homes built over his two terms, with more affordable homes being built this year than since 1980, as well as helping 50,000 Londoners into low cost home ownership through his FIRST STEPS scheme. For more information on the Mayor’s housing schemes visit http://www.london.gov.uk/priorities/housing-land
3. RE:NEW is a London-wide home energy efficiency retrofit programme designed to overcome these barriers and significantly increase the scale of domestic retrofit by working with London’s boroughs, social housing providers and private landlords to understand their unique situations and provide tailored support programmes. Established in 2009, RE:NEW has delivered improvements to over 100,000 homes and saved over 22,000 tonnes of carbon dioxide per annum. RE:NEW is in its third phase which sees delivery of the programme through a RE:NEW Support Team. Phase III has received funding from European Investment Bank ELENA facility under the CIP-Intelligent Energy Europe Programme with a 10% match fund provided by the GLA.