Our decision to look to buy properties outside the borough has been given the full Guardian treatment (Kensington to house vulnerable tenants outside city, 3 August). Your report says we “want” to move those in temporary accommodation to cheaper areas.
In fact, placing homeless households outside the borough is not a new approach – we have had to do this for many years because we simply cannot procure the affordable accommodation we need to house people locally. You report that we are placing vulnerable people outside the borough but fail to mention our placements policy that helps us identify the very same vulnerable housing applicants who need to remain in the borough and be in touch with our local services. Placing these people outside the borough will not be an option when we assess them as needing to be here.
In the real world councils like ours have a duty to house people, we also have real budgets, greatly reduced in recent years, to work with and we have the small matter of some of the most expensive housing on the planet. It’s quite a simple choice – with the same money, we can either buy a few small properties in Kensington and Chelsea to house a handful of families, or we can buy more than 30 further afield and house far more people in good-quality homes as opposed to bed and breakfasts. I think the right decision is to try and help more people and that is what buying these extra properties will do. We also want to ensure we place people in good-quality settled accommodation that we control and not be beholden to landlords who often want their properties back, or fail to deliver the standard of accommodation we expect. We will, however, continue to house people in temporary accommodation in the borough and within London, and we will continue to protect our mixed-income neighbourhoods by investing in social housing that makes up 25% of all housing in the borough.
Cllr Rock Feilding-Mellen
Deputy leader, Kensington and Chelsea council and cabinet member for housing
• I would like to offer a solution that can address part of the problem and at the same time increase the pool of affordable housing in the capital. This issue of inner London councils buying cheaper properties or working with buy-to-let landlords to place people in temporary housing in boroughs like mine has been going on for years but it’s getting worse thanks to the capital’s ludicrous housing market. Taking vulnerable families away from their communities and moving them into poorer London boroughs can lead to social isolation and does nothing to create stable communities. One of the ways to address the problem is to explore new ways to encourage and create a more affordable rented sector in London and especially inner boroughs.
Here in Barking and Dagenham we have used private and European funding to run two innovative private rental schemes. Both the Abbey Road and the William Street Quarter schemes – managed by the council’s housing management team – rent out houses and apartments for working people at 80% of the market rate. Part of the income goes to the council which helps fund services. By taking an innovative approach we are helping Londoners find homes at affordable rates and helping to fill the gap in the shortfall of government funding. It’s a win-win for us. Thanks to our ambition and partnership with the mayor of London, Barking and Dagenham is set to deliver 35,000 new homes and 10,000 new jobs. Buying up houses elsewhere and moving people out of London isn’t the solution. It is only by being creative and working with each other and the private sector that London councils will address the capital’s housing crisis.
Cllr Darren Rodwell
Leader, Barking and Dagenham council
