How the council is tackling Hackney’s affordable housing crisis
Councillor Glanville, Cabinet Member for Hackney Homes and Regeneration Estates. Photograph: Hackney Council
The affordable housing crisis in London is one of the most urgent issues the capital faces, and both the Hackney Citizen and Shelter are absolutely right to highlight it (Housing crisis: ‘Hackney as bad as Kensington and Chelsea’, Hackney Citizen, November).
Local authorities should step in and take action themselves, and in Hackney, the council has already started to respond by building 20 shared ownership homes off Homerton High Street which are being offered exclusively to tenants of social landlords in the borough for a limited period, before being opened up to wider Hackney residents.
Priority will also be given to those serving in the armed forces; or in temporary accommodation; keyworkers such as teachers; or with a high priority on the housing waiting list.
Prices start at £170,000 for a one-bedroom flat, with savings needed of £6,800 for a 25 per cent share. Research from housing association Metropolitan shows that of tenants of social landlords in East London who have applied for shared ownership homes within the past 12 months just over half have savings of up to £10,000.
These 20 are the first of 500 shared ownership homes that the council is building in the next 10 years, and as we’re doing it ourselves there are no profit margins or shareholder dividends to bump up the prices.
In turn, the sale and part-rent proceeds from these properties will also help fund the building of further homes for social renting, as part of our commitment to ensure Hackney both now and in future is a borough of mixed communities.
It’s part of a programme to regenerate Hackney’s ageing housing estates, ultimately delivering more than 2,770 homes for social renting, shared ownership and private sale, with the latter needed to help fund the development works.
So far, 201 homes for social renting have been completed, including at Finsbury Park Place, on Seven Sisters Road; and at Dunnock Mews and Goldcrest Mews, near Hackney Downs park.
I have just read this article, building share ownership homes seems a very commendable this administration is doing!
However, I can stand corrected but as I understand it, if a person buys a 25% of a property they are liable for 100% of the repairs.
As expressed on the website of a particular developer:
“Under the terms of the lease, an occupier of a shared ownership house, has a full responsibility for any repairs to both the interior and exterior of the property including boundary fencing, paths and parking areas within your ownership”.
Again, happy to stand corrected, and may be this administration has another policy, with regards to the shared owner’s liabilities, in which case it is a great thing they are doing.
However, if I am correct then where is the affordable in the above, where is the fairness in the above?
A 25% ownership with a 100% liability, and the 75% owner holding the largest amount of equity in the property, with no liabilities.
This is a considered a good offer? A solution to the housing crisis? I happy for Cllr Glanville to correct me if any of the above is incorrect.
However, if I am correct, I hope people entering into shared ownership, will read the small print very carefully, as they will be still paying rent on the other 75% as well as having all the liabilities.
Says the lady representing 2.5% of her ward…
Whilst a good thing, development programmes like these but have a fairly negligible role in addressing the wider housing problems in Hackney, compared to the current social housing stock or homelessness / waiting list levels.
It is sad that politicians have so few ideas about how to manage the housing market in London and address how disruptive and divisive the phenomenal growth in housing costs have been in the last 10/15 years.