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We need homes not percentages (Monday 22/10/07)

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Hammersmith & Fulham is a borough of opportunity. Its economy is growing, its town centres are being rejuvenated and new businesses are setting up here at a fast rate.

However, it is also a borough facing real challenges. Demand for housing is outstripping supply and too many people are being forced to leave the borough because they can no longer afford to live here because of high house prices.

There are areas in the borough, concentrated on the larger social housing estates, with continuing high levels of deprivation. Many local people who have great aspirations believe that the ladder of opportunity in this borough has well and truly slipped away.

Our challenge is to bridge the borough’s social divide. Or else we face a fate envisioned by Benjamin Disraeli when he wrote, “Two nations between whom there is no intercourse and no sympathy; who are ignorant of each other’s habits, thoughts and feelings, as if they were dwellers in different zones or inhabitants of different planets;… the rich and the poor.”

If we do not find a way for young families to live in H&F, we are in danger of becoming a borough only for the rich who can afford to buy a house and the urban poor who can access social housing.

Therefore, we need to provide a housing ladder of opportunity so that social housing is a launching pad, not a destination. We also need affordable housing for young working families who don’t qualify for social housing, but cannot afford to buy a house.

Buying a home, or even renting in H&F, is increasingly out of the reach for most people. 
So we are looking at ways to help people onto the property ladder.

We are aiming to build at least 600 additional homes every year – exceeding the 450 target set for us by the Mayor. But we also want more low-cost home ownership so working families that cannot afford to buy on the market have the opportunity to live in H&F.

I think that is very good news, but still our critics say we are not doing enough for the least well-off. Why? The answer is that the Mayor’s housing policy is obsessed with artificial targets and percentages - and not with the number of decent quality homes being built.

The Mayor says 50 per cent of all new housing must be ‘affordable’ housing, of which 35 per cent must be social rent. I am happy to aim for the percentage targets, but I want a lower percentage of social rent and a higher percentage of low cost home ownership.

Helping the greatest number of families has got to be our focus rather than obeying dogmatic quotas.

In addition to the 1,200 people in temporary accommodation, there are 3,000 households that have recently expressed an interest in some form of low-cost home ownership.

And while we are committed to providing affordable homes for rent, I believe councils also have to provide new ways for local families to get on to the local property ladder so that local communities can thrive.

Shared ownership schemes are part of the answer, enabling people to buy part of their home, while continuing to pay rent on the remainder.

If families are driven out because they cannot afford to live here, we are failing in our drive to become a borough of opportunity.

Unfortunately, one of the most unnecessary obstacles to progress is the Mayor’s obsession with percentages, quotas and targets, as he attempts to rule hugely diverse neighbourhoods with a one-size-fits-all policy.

If the Mayor could be more realistic and flexible about his targets – and take into account the local context of H&F - we will succeed in building a greater number of homes with the support of our residents.

Cllr Stephen Greenhalgh

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I am shocked to receive this morning's email bulletin [containing the Leader's column above], championing the need to build affordable homes in the Borough, having just returned from a meeting last night about the proposed new development at the bottom of Hammersmith Grove (on the site of the NCP car park). The proposed development will provide offices for 4,000 workers, 1 cinema and 3 restaurants. But no housing. The Wimpey office building next door to the proposed development was advertising empty office space this morning, as was the One Hammersmith Grove development on Beadon Road. We do not need more offices in Hammersmith. We need more housing and recreational facilities for local people. Please will the Council listen to the views of its constituents and negotiate with the developers so as to provide a truly mixed use development. This would, I hope, include not only housing but also some badly-needed recreational facilities in the area, such as a swimming pool and gymnasium.
Helen Wolstenholme on 26/10/07