More than 1,000 new homes at social rent will be built by Newham Council as part of a £276 million cash boost as the local authority makes plans to directly intervene in the housing sector.
The council will use its Housing Revenue Account (HRA) to support the building of more than 1,000 quality new homes, the majority of which will be made available to the thousands of Newham residents on the housing waiting list.
This decision was made last night (Tuesday 2 July) at a meeting of the council’s cabinet who gave approval for work to start on design and delivery work on sites already identified across the borough. Of these homes, more than 1,000 will be at social rent levels. The remaining homes will be available as shared ownership and market rent/sale. This represents the next phase of the Housing Delivery Plan published in October 2018 and means Mayor of Newham Rokhsana Fiaz is on track to meet her pledge to the people of Newham when elected last year.
Mayor Fiaz said: “This is the most ambitious new build housing programme the council has embarked on in the last 40 years. It will demonstrate we can deliver the homes that our residents desperately need. We have 27,600 people on the housing register and more than 5,000 families in temporary accommodation and behind each of those numbers are thousands of personal stories. Providing a stable home is fundamental to each every one of us.
“We will always work with developers, housing associations and other partners who share our values, but to make a step change that’s required, we need to directly deliver to tackle the crisis around housing that disproportionately affects our borough. By using our Housing Revenue Account and through repurposing our wholly owned company Red Door Ventures, we can disrupt the housing sector. We will also continue to campaign to government to provide us with the policies, tools and flexibility which will expand our ability to transform the life chances for our residents.”
The delivery of new homes will also provide significant local employment, training opportunities and community benefits and will provide new commercial, leisure and community spaces where appropriate and viable.
Homes will be built through council owned underused vacant plots and building and garage sites. The whole programme is supported by a £107m grant provided by the Mayor of London’s Building Council Homes for Londoners scheme as well as Right to Buy receipts if required. All homes will be subject to the council obtaining the relevant approvals required to deliver the schemes.
Listen here to Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz explain why this decision is so important.
