Housing associations will face a target for the number of different-sized homes they build in London as part of plans outlined in the capital’s draft regional housing strategy for 2005.
The draft – unveiled last Friday – hinted that the potential target would see a large increase in the number of four-bedroom family homes built from the present 600 to over 4000 each year.
The move would form part of the London regional housing board’s plans to tackle the growing problem of overcrowded housing – a problem first highlighted by Housing Today’s “right to room” campaign earlier this year (HT, 27 February to 12 March).
The most recent figures from the ODPM show that almost 500,000 households live in overcrowded conditions, with 150,000 in London.
The draft strategy – for which responses are due by 4 February 2005 – states that “the board intends setting a target for the supply of different-sized homes in the social sector between 2006 and 2008”.
Another area highlighted in the document relates to setting an additional priority for new lettings around employed people, as well as the existing priority for councils to prioritise homeless households.
Other key aims included in the strategy are:
- 10% of new housing, across all tenures, to be wheelchair accessible or easily adaptable
- reduce the number of empty homes – 99,781 in April 2003 – especially private sector homes that have been vacant for more than six months
- reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation – 67,000 in July 2004
- bring together capital and revenue funding for supporting people in London – this may require top-slicing supporting people revenue funding.
Source
Housing Today
