Londoners 'suffer worst housing conditions in the country' » Housing » 24dash.com

More than 750,000 Londoners are living in overcrowded homes and more than one in 10 people living in London is on a social housing waiting list, according to new research from the National Housing Federation London.

‘Home Truths London 2008: Why the need for social housing is increasing’, being launched at the House of Commons on Thursday  October 23, shows that more than a third of a million London households are now waiting for a social home, an increase of nearly 50% in five years.

The research also shows that:

• London is not building enough homes. Only two thirds of the social homes needed in the capital each year are being built and, overall, London needs at least an extra 11,000 new homes a year.
• The number of people made homeless in London last year outstripped the number of new social homes built. Over 15,000 families were accepted as homeless by London councils last year. But fewer than 11,500 new social homes were built.
• House prices cost over 14 times the average Londoner’s income and private rents are more than twice as expensive as social rents.
• In 2007, the average cost of a London home was £355,000.
• Buying at the cheapest end of the London market still requires an income of over £56,000, more than double median earnings in the capital.

Belinda Porich, Head of the National Housing Federation London, said: “Last year housing associations increased the number of social homes they produce by more than a third.

"But it’s clearly not enough to tackle the devastating scale of Londoners’ housing needs.

“It’s absolutely vital that we hit the Mayor of London’s target of 50,000 new social homes in London by 2011. The Government has put more money into building new social homes, but it needs to do more to respond to the huge change in housing market conditions over the last 12 months.

“Grant levels need to increase so housing associations can build more family houses and overcome the short term financing issues caused by the credit crunch, and we need real flexibility about how the investment pot for social housing is handled, with more money brought forward to allow housing associations to buy up good quality private developer stock that’s lying unsold and to make public land available at discounted prices.

“With unemployment and repossessions on the rise, we can expect another spike in the numbers of households turning to the social housing sector for help in the next 12 months.

"It is critical we increase the capacity of housing associations to deal with the fall out from a struggling economy,” Ms Porich said.