More social housing was completed in crisis-hit Tower Hamlets—even without government help—than any other London borough last year, according to latest City Hall figures.
They reached 886 in 2015-16, including major schemes like rejuvenation of Stepney’s massive Ocean Estate, Bromley-by-Bow’s Watts Grove and Poplar’s controversial Blackwall Reach project at Robin Hood Gardens.
Another 1,000 ‘affordable’ homes were completed in the subsequent 12 months to April to tackle the East End’s rocketing population growth—with 20,000 families on the waiting list.
“We face a housing crisis with no support from the government,” Deputy Mayor Sirajul Islam claimed. “Councils have been left to pick up the pieces and create the affordable housing that’s badly needed. But we’ve done just that.”
The Town Hall set up an ‘affordability’ commission last year that has led to a private renters’ charter and landlord register to tackle the shortage as well as lower rents on new properties.
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