‘Using all means at our disposal’: Fifteen Hackney sites earmarked for council housing – as scheme to build more than 1,000 new homes kicks on

Hackney Mayor Philip Glanville. Photograph: Julia Gregory

An ambitious scheme to build hundreds more council homes in Hackney is moving forward – with housing bosses earmarking 15 new sites.

The initiative is scouring council estates across the borough to find suitable places to build on, such as garages and car parks.

The Town Hall hopes it will help some of the 8,500 households on its waiting list, including 3,300 homeless families in temporary accommodation.

The list also includes 3,700 children, mostly primary school pupils.

The council said the pressure for temporary homes has seen it looking to place people as far afield as the Midlands, and it is hampered by a lack of private homes at the local housing allowance rate.

“Hackney is unaffordable for households with an annual income of less than £45,000 to rent a home on the open market,” according to a Town Hall report.

The council has earmarked 15 “anchor sites” for 400 new homes after looking at 70 places.

Regeneration experts are on the lookout for 10 to 20 more sites for another 100 to 200 homes.

The scheme’s target of 1,118 new homes includes the renovation of 255 properties, buying back 100 ex-council houses, and 350 homes as part of the regeneration of town centres, including the controversial Morning Lane site.

The sites it plans to develop include garages at Orwell Court in Haggerston, the Welshpool Street depot and car park in London Fields, and the Morris Blitz neighbourhood office in Stoke Newington. Each site could hold new estates with around 30 homes.

The council’s interim director of regeneration Chris Trowell said: “It is clear that the council will need to use all means at its disposal to meet this stretching target. This will involve looking for suitable locations to build homes across all our land, and broadening the range of delivery models we use.”

The project also includes De Beauvoir and the former Britannia Leisure Centre, both of which already have planning permission.

Mayor Philip Glanville said inflation, soaring interest rates and construction costs “make the delivery of one home, let alone 1,000 homes, challenging”.

Earlier this year, the council was awarded £17.5m in Greater London Authority grants to put towards 100 social homes.

Over the last decade, the council built or refurbished 1,515 homes – with 522 for social rent, 24 at the Hackney Living Rent and 154 for shared ownership. A further 815 were put up for sale on the open market.

The council said it needs to sell some homes to fund council homes.