Tower Hamlets fails to meet desperate housing need, says Shelter
THE housing authority for London’s overcrowded East End is providing less than half the affordable homes needed to cut its 20,000 waiting list, the charity Shelter has found
THE housing authority for London’s overcrowded East End is providing less than half the desperately needed’ affordable homes needed to cut its 20,000 waiting list, the charity Shelter has found.
Shelter’s Housing League table published this-morning shows Tower Hamlets is failing to deliver enough affordable homes—only 47 per cent of its target.
But the East End is not alone in its housing failures. Tower Hamlets is one of 31 London boroughs out of 33 which are failing to meet needs, according to the national charity.
It means there is a 94 per cent failure rate across London, with only two boroughs meeting their targets.
“These figures are extremely worrying,” said Shelter’s chief Campbell Robb.
“Tower Hamlets council must work far harder, with almost 19,700 households on its waiting list, to ensure more desperately-needed homes are provided.
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“The recession has created a difficult climate for house building, but these figures show Tower Hamlets is struggling to provide enough homes for those who need them.”
Independent experts commissioned by the council say 2,700 new homes are needed each year in the East End, but an average of only 1,270 have been delivered in the last 12 months, it is pointed out.
The findings are one part of Shelter’s new Housing League Table one-stop-shop website providing data such as house prices, waiting lists and levels of housing delivery, with the league tables updated annually to judge how local authorities are performing.
