Boris at Barking 21-09-2010
September 22nd, 2010
Last night I attended an event at the Broadway Theatre Barking [Delivering more quality affordable housing – have your say] which was a meet the people event to discuss affordable housing in Greater London. It was well attended.
The panel from left to right (from the audience) were as follows:-
- David Montague – Group Chief Executive L & Q Group
- Rachael Orr – Shelter London Campaigns Manager
- Boris Johnson – Mayor of London
- Baroness Neuberger DBE – Chair
- Richard Blakeway – Mayor’s Advisor for Housing
- Cllr Phil Waker – Cabinet Member for Housing, London Borough of Barking & Dagenham
The evening began with a short speech from each of the panellists, excluding the chair, each explaining their role in the process of planning housing in London although as he himself admitted, Richard Blakeway’s contribution was fairly brief being much the same as that of Boris Johnson’s who preceded him.
When Phil Waker spoke I was taken straight back to the London Festival of Architecture meeting because just like Dick Mortimer of Family Mosaic then, I felt Phil Waker was speaking from the heart and from direct experience rather than a wish list and by the end of the evening, he had, for me, come over as by far the most powerful voice on the panel.
His declaration that after 27 years of councils not being allowed to build new housing themselves that this was now in progress, albeit 141 houses was both heartfelt and sad at the same time. “Like pissing in the ocean” somebody behind me shouted. He pointed out that unlike Housing Associations which receive Government funding to build, councils receive nothing, and worse, have been hampered for years until recently by the Housing Revenue Account which has taken money from some councils and distributed it to others.
When the speakers had made their introductory remarks it was over to the audience and with four floating microphones a challenge successfully handled by the Chair, Julia Neuberger, a regular guest on Any Questions if memory serves. She took questions in groups of three, to speed things up, and in themes to try and add some structure to the evening.
The overwhelming impression that came across from the questions and answers was a crying need for housing to fill the large gap that exists outside the 70% or so people that it is claimed, are part of our “home owning democracy”. Now I don’t remember who coined that phrase but the corollary is that it leaves 30% none home owners and there were some difficult stories including one from a local man whose daughter and son-in-law, recently married were struggling to pay their way in a privately owned former council flat at £160pw while living next door to another household in the same block paying £80pw because their flat was still under council ownership.
The subject of right to buy and its effects were brought up by a lady in the audience asking if Boris was going to stop RTB but she didn’t get a definitive answer, and even when the subject was linked to the 141 new council homes being built in the borough (B&D) being available for the new tenants to register to buy, it appeared that would remain the case.
Therefore there seems to me to be a crying need for Government legislation to immediately outlaw the sale of council homes in order that even this tiny attempt to start building again by local councils can have an impact on the shortage. Otherwise, as before, all the best homes will be bought up and the less attractive will remain, doing nothing to reduce the waiting lists.
https://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2010/sep/21/right-to-buy-coalition-loggerheads
There were heckles from a small contingent of the BNP who had earlier been outside, dealt with both politely and forcefully by the chair, and even at one stage humourously by Boris Johnson when a blond lady asked if she might come and live with Boris, given the shortage of affordable accommodation elsewhere.
In summing up the message across the board was the same. London needs more affordable (council housing as Phil Waker prefers to call it, and so do I) and as quickly as possible but tempered with the need for quality.
A webcast and audio recording of the event is now available from here, it doesn’t work in Firefox, use Internet Explorer to watch the video.
For an alternative take on the evening, this is what Dave Hill had to say:-
UPDATE: 25/9/12 Phil Waker turns up again in an article on the 24dash.com website about the future or even existence of “social housing”.
Labour councillor Phil Waker, cabinet member for housing, said the council currently has 124 families languishing in bed and breakfasts (B&Bs) over the statutory six-week period.
“The big problem is the pressure on temporary accommodation we’re getting,” he says.
“We’re constantly in a legal position of having families in B&Bs for over six weeks. We got a letter from the housing minister when we had over 30 families; we’re now up to 124 – that’s despite converting elderly accommodation to temporary accommodation and we’re even looking at allocating tower blocks to be honest.
“I see no choice for us in the end than having to move people to much cheaper areas.
“Against that background, and with income levels where they are and everything else, if there is no sustainability for the road we are on to expand our social and affordable housing, we’ll have a hell of a situation to be honest.”
Mr Waker says the Housing Revenue Account (HRA) reform has presented the council with opportunities to build new homes which it has taken up.
He says: “We have a lot more money available and we are using it as much as we can to build new homes. We’re using all the opportunities available to us including working with the private sector where the homes eventually become ours through a special purpose vehicle.”
He says the council was also using the Government’s Affordable Rent model to create mixed communities where some of its stock was being let at 65 percent of the market rent.
He adds: “What I don’t understand is why local authorities with housing can’t come out of the public sector borrowing rules.”
https://www.24dash.com/news/housing/2012-09-24-The-end-of-social-housing-prompts-more-questions-than-answers