Dear Ed, THE Prime Minister has finally agreed to relax the rules on public housing—after years of restricting local authority freedom to build new homes. About time, too!
Dear Ed,
THE Prime Minister has finally agreed to relax the rules on public housing—after years of restricting local authority freedom to build new homes. About time, too!
The urgency of building good quality public housing is heightened by the recession, with private developers struggling to find the cash to provide enough homes. Councils must plug the gap that has opened up.
London has 200,000 overcrowded homes and a further 55,000 households without a permanent place to live.
I hope each town hall will soon set out how they will ensure that residents benefit from any new freedom for councils to borrow money for building.
But I urge local authorities to go further and pledge that new council housing would be built to high environmental standards and that people will benefit from the training and work opportunities that such a building programme ought to provide.
Darren Johnson (Green)
London Assembly
City Hall
Queens Walk, Southwark
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here