MP says family-sized homes needed to solve housing crisis
By Adrian Zorzut, Local Democracy Reporter
An 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.
But 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 said: “I’ve pressed the Deputy Prime Minister on the 1.5million 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 more than half of respondent 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 £2.2billion. 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: “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 which 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.”
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 more than 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.
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 spokesman said: “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 £100million this year.”
Pictured top: Florence Eshalomi, MP for Vauxhall (Picture: Parliament)
