Council with longest housing waiting list letting London down’
HOUSING chiefs in London’s overcrowded East End have been slammed today at City Hall for not providing enough affordable’ social housing and missing their target by a third. Tower Hamlets Council was condemned during Mayor Boris Johnson’s Question Time
HOUSING chiefs in London’s overcrowded East End have been slammed today at City Hall for not providing enough affordable’ social housing and missing their target by a third.
Tower Hamlets Council, with a housing waiting list of 22,000 families, was condemned during Mayor Boris Johnson’s Question Time by London Assembly member Andrew Boff.
The local authority was “letting Londoners down by failing to deliver enough homes.”
His comments follow reports that the authority is missing its target of 5,064 homes by a huge 32 per cent and was now trying to reduce the target with the Government Office for London.
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“Tower Hamlets has one of the longest housing waiting lists in London,” Andrew Boff told the Assembly. “People desperately need new places to live.
“London suffers severe housing shortage and chronic overcrowding. It relies on local councils to deliver the new affordable homes.
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Boris Johnson, responding to Boff’s question, said it was “a shame if any borough under performs” on its affordable housing targets.
Andrew Boff later told the East London Advertiser: “Tower Hamlets is clearly not doing its job. It agreed the target with the Mayor.
“It’s the only London borough that’s asked to reduce its target. They’ve missed it by 32 per cent.”
Tower Hamlets’ Local Area Agreement pledged 5,064 homes by 2011. But its Corporate Performance report reveals the authority is around 32 per cent off target.
Tower Hamlets has had to ’reinvent’ its housing waiting list to make allocations more fair, the authority told the East London Advertiser earlier in the week.
