Memorandum from Shelter (LH 04)
1. Shelter welcomes the opportunity to give
evidence to the Committee on the provision of affordable housing
in London.
PROGRESS ON
THE DELIVERY
OF AFFORDABLE
HOUSING IN
LONDON
2. The latest available CLG data for the
gross provision of affordable housing in London is detailed below:
| London | 2005-06
| 2006-07 | 2007-08
| 2008-09 |
| Social Rent, of which: | 5,570
| 6,820 | 7,910
| 6,270 |
| Homes and Communities Agency (new build)
| 4,140 | 4,770 | 5,140
| 4,110 |
| Homes and Communities Agency (acquisitions)
| 810 | 1,220 | 1,950
| 1,760 |
| Other Homes and Communities Agency Schemes
| 100 | 320 | 250
| 170 |
| Local authorities (new build) | 0
| 0 | 30 | 10
|
| Section 106 (new build)—total |
500 | 510 | 540
| 180 |
| of which, Section 106 (new build)—IMS only
| 50 | 40 | 90
| 20 |
| Private Finance Initiative | 30
| 0 | 0 | 40
|
Intermediate Affordable Housing
| 5,930 | 6,390
| 7,330 | 6,610
|
Intermediate Rent, of which: |
650 | 830 | 720
| 470 |
| Homes and Communities Agency (new build)
| 510 | 800 | 680
| 460 |
| Homes and Communities Agency (acquisitions)
| 140 | 40 | 40
| 10 |
Low Cost Home Ownership, of which:
| 5,280 | 5,550
| 6,610 | 6,140
|
Homes and Communities Agency (new build)
| 1,830 | 3,010 | 3,970
| 3,400 |
| Homes and Communities Agency (acquisitions)
| 2,650 | 1,020 | 770
| 1,280 |
| Other Homes and Communities Agency Schemes
| 0 | 0 | 40
| 0 |
| Section 106 (new build)—total |
360 | 1,050 | 720
| 400 |
| of which, Section 106 (new build)—IMS only
| 130 | 230 | 230
| 170 |
| Assisted Purchase Schemes | 440
| 480 | 1,120 | 1,070
|
| All affordable | 11,500
| 13,210 | 15,240
| 12,890 |
Source: CLG Live Table 1000
3. The above figures reflect new build and acquisitions
but not losses through demolition and sales. Figures for the net
number of conventional affordable completions in London are available
from the GLA's February 2010 Annual Monitoring Report 6, and show
an increase from 8,863 in 2006-07 to 10,370 in 2007-08 and 10,588
in 2008-09.
4. The recession has undoubtedly played a major part
in the reduction in the number of affordable homes provided between
2007-08 and 2008-09. In particular, the level of affordable housing
delivered through Section 106 has more than halved, while grant
costs per unit have risen.
5. The existing London Plan sets a target of 27,597 additional
dwellings per year to 2016-17, of which 50% should be affordable,
split 70:30 between social rented and intermediate housing. This
equates to 13,799 affordable homes, 9659 social rented and the
remainder intermediate. However, the Mayor's Housing Strategy
and the draft replacement London Plan have set out a new numerical
target of 13,200 affordable homes per year, split 60:40 between
social rented and intermediate provision.
6. While the period until 2007-08 saw good progress in
increasing the gross number of affordable homes provided in London,
the CLG data indicates that the split between social rented and
intermediate provision has failed to match the 70:30 target. In
2007-08, only 51.9% of affordable homes provided were for social
rent, and in 2008-09 this figure fell slightly to 48.6%.
HOUSING NEED
IN LONDON
7. The GLA's 2008 Strategic Housing Market Assessment
concluded that at least 32,600 new homes are needed each year
over the term of the London Plan. Of these, it said that 18,200
should be affordable, split 80:20 between social rented and intermediate
provision.
8. London has some of the most acute housing need in
England. As of the end of 2009, it had more than 354,000 households
on local authorities' housing waiting lists and over 43,000 households
in temporary accommodation. Over 330,000 children in London live
in overcrowded accommodation, and overcrowding in London has risen
in recent years, particularly in the private rented sector (CLG,
Survey of English Housing). The average London house price in
2009 was £352,355, nearly 13 times the median income, and
on average Londoners spend 42% of their household income on housing
(Shelter YouGov survey, October 2009).
9. While Shelter is mindful of the barriers and uncertainties
affecting affordable housing delivery in London at present, we
believe it is essential to ensure that the supply of affordable
housing is maximised. Given this, we would like to see the affordable
housing target set out in the Mayor's Housing Strategy and draft
replacement London Plan to be subject to regular review, so that
the opportunity can be taken to revise this upwards should the
delivery environment improve.
10. In view of the scale of overcrowding in the capital,
it is also vital that priority is given to delivering more family
sized affordable homes. We strongly welcome the commitment in
the Mayor's housing strategy that 42% of new social rented housing
and, by 2011, 16% of intermediate housing should have three bedrooms
or more, and will be monitoring carefully to see if this is achieved.
THE ROLE
OF LOCAL
AUTHORITIES
11. Local authorities are responsible for assessing housing
need in their areas and in setting and achieving targets for the
delivery of affordable housing. The Mayor has a vital role in
co-ordinating this process to ensure that need is measured on
a robust and consistent basis and that his overall targets for
London are met.
12. In the past, levels of affordable housing provision
have varied considerably from local authority to local authority,
both in terms of the overall number of affordable homes provided,
and in terms of the proportion of total delivery accounted for
by social and intermediate housing.
13. We welcome the Mayor's commitment to working across
boundaries to co-ordinate local, sub-regional and Londonwide SHMAs
so that sub-regional and strategic housing needs are accounted
for when setting individual borough affordable housing targets.
However, we believe that more detail is required on how the Mayor
intends to work together with the boroughs to ensure that ambitious
affordable housing targets are set and to monitor their performance
in achieving these.
14. Shelter strongly supports the London Plan's focus
on the development of mixed tenure communities. However, while
we acknowledge the need to build homes of all tenures, we would
not want to see this policy result in an oversupply of intermediate
or market homes in areas that have a greater need for social rented
homes. Where the profile of local need demands it, and in particular
in areas where the proportion of social housing has historically
been low, we would therefore like to see the Mayor support local
authorities to adjust the profile of affordable housing provision
to give a greater weighting to social rented housing than the
60:40 split set out in the London Housing Strategy.
22 March 2010
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