Kate Davies is chief executive of Notting Hill Housing, London's largest housing association. She gives a warm welcome to Mayor Johnson's housing strategy.
Ken Livingstone put the spotlight back on housing and to my great relief Boris too has grabbed hold of the issue and is taking it forward with some interesting ideas. I disagree with the flack he's getting from some quarters about too much emphasis on home ownership. Londoners talk more about housing than they talk about the weather. And, regardless of the type of housing they're living in, the dream is of home ownership. Our tenants continue to tell us so. And the fact that we still have queues around the block of people wanting to buy our shared ownership properties tells us so too.
An understandable response to stellar house prices, endless waiting lists and overcrowding is to call for more social housing. This simple call alone will not solve our complex situation. It's the range and flexibility of Boris's approach that will release the bottlenecks currently strangling the housing system and help people to get the homes they really want. As well as better social housing, we need to offer more additional affordable alternatives. The new strategy challenges the old idea of private sector bad, state sector good. This is a myth-busting milestone and one to be celebrated.
The sector needs to pull together. But there's nothing gung-ho about the Boris approach. He's calling for new targets and polices that will improve the social rented sector and make the private rented sector more attractive. Rather than having centrally imposed housing targets, he's negotiating with individual boroughs to set the housing targets they know they need. It's not rocket science, but it's a great move. Overall, the feeling I'm left with is that Boris listened before he acted. It's a good start and I for one am looking forward to putting his policy into practice.
Thanks for that Kate. Insofar as I could get to grips with these complex issues I found things to recommend the housing policies of both Johnson and Livingstone. It will be fascinating to see how the new mayor's fares. I'd be delighted to post responses from others working in London housing sector. Feel free to get in touch.
