London: Housing crisis

Rebecca Towers
Politics Show London

Demand is outstripping supply in London's social housing market. What is the Government doing to crack the affordable housing crisis in Capital?

Since 1980, 1.5m local authority tenants have bought their homes

The Politics Show has found that 25,700 lower-priced homes needed every year in London cannot be met under the current funding structures and low rates of house building in the Capital.

For every home that is built local authorities loose more than one through Right-to-Buy purchases.

This week the Draft London Housing Strategy was under scrutiny before the Housing Forum for London ahead of publication in July 2003.

The Prescott plan

The £22b plan to "drive forward thriving and sustainable communities for this and future generations", has been hailed by the Government as a radical new plan to improve the lives and living conditions for thousands of people.

Funding will include: £5b for more affordable housing, £1b for homes for key workers; and emphasis on private home ownership and new proposals to bring empty properties back into use.

But will John Prescott's cash bonanza reach the 790,000 households in social housing in Greater London?

That figure doesn't even include the 226,000 households on the housing registers of London local authorities, not those who are in housing need, but are not eligible for social housing.

The Right to Buy or Not to Buy

Government made the decision to cut Right-to-Buy discounts

In March 2003 the Government made the controversial decision to cut the Right-to-Buy discounts which had previously allowed many council tenants to eventually buy their own homes.

Former Housing Minister Jeff Rooker said tenants in 41 Areas in London and the South would have the maximum discount reduced from £38,000 to £16,000.

The aim was to keep hold of council housing stock and prevent big housing developers from acquiring this council stock by buying properties from the tenants.

Plan to improve the lives and living conditions of thousands

Between 1998-2002 6% of all homes sold under the Right-to-buy scheme in inner London were bought by this way.

Housing campaigners in London argue that tenants should be given the right to eventually own their own property.

Since 1980, 1.5m local authority tenants have bought their homes under the right-to-buy scheme under which they qualify for discounts of up to 32% on a house and 44% on a flat if they have lived in a property for 2 years.

The maximum discount is capped at a cash limit, which varies from region to region, with up to 100% of the discount repaid if the purchaser sold the property within three years.

The Politics Show

The Politics Show will feature a council tenant who has been living in a council bed-sit for 4 years and has been waiting for a one-bedroomed flat.

She would probably accept the fact that there is a social housing shortage in the Capital if she didn't have to walk past a boarded up one-bed flat a few yards from her front door.

Join our London presenter Tim Donovan for The Politics Show every Sunday at 12 noon on BBC One.

---