London Councils has welcomed the government’s social housing white paper and its promise of transformational change for social housing residents.
Cllr Darren Rodwell, London Councils’ Executive Member for Housing & Planning, said:
“Boroughs are enthusiastic supporters of social housing in the capital. The sector provides homes to hundreds of thousands of Londoners and we believe it should have an expanded role in helping to tackle London’s housing pressures.
“We fully support the government’s agenda of improving standards and empowering tenants. Our top priority is to ensure all Londoners are safe – and feel safe – in their homes, and the new regulatory measures set out in the white paper will help achieve this.
“It’s crucial that this regulatory framework is properly resourced. It’s equally vital that the government increases its focus on delivering more homes for social rent. Boroughs will continue to call for the powers and resources we need to make this happen – including long-term certainty on social rent levels and an end to the unfair restrictions on Right to Buy sales receipts, which prevent us re-investing all money from council house sales into building replacement homes for our communities.”
Around 750,000 London households live in social housing rented from either a housing association or local authority. This tenure comprises 22 per cent of London’s total housing provision.
There are currently 243,000 London households on waiting lists for council housing. Over 60,000 homeless households are placed in temporary accommodation by London boroughs. The capital accounts for two-thirds of homelessness in England and has the highest regional disparity between housing costs and household income.
ENDS