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.