Think big

Mayor of London Boris Johnson intends to halve severe overcrowding in social housing by 2016. However questions have been raised as to whether the current approach will see him hit his target.

More than 200,000 of London’s households are overcrowded - an increase of around a third on the number 10 years ago.

New homes are being built, but pressures like a scarcity of land and developers looking for maximum financial return, have meant that many of these new homes are one-bedroom flats - not much use to overcrowded families on council waiting lists for a bigger home.

So, could it be time for a temporary moratorium on building smaller homes for social rent?

My new review on behalf of the London Assembly’s planning and housing committee will explore this idea and look at whether building a greater number of large family homes instead of so many small flats is a more effective way to tackle overcrowding.

The mayor has set targets to increase the number of family-sized homes: 42 per cent of new social rented units; and 16 per cent of new intermediate homes by 2011. But are these targets high enough, and will defining ‘family-sized’ as three bedrooms or more see a glut of three-bed homes as there is no need to build four or more bedroom homes to meet the target?

Building a six-bedroom house solves a higher number of people’s problems as when a family currently occupying a four or five-bedroom house moves in, they free up their house for a smaller family, and so on.

Should the mayor revisit his targets and approach? My findings will inform future revisions of his action plan, and I will publish a full report later this year.

Andrew Boff is a member of the London Assembly planning and housing committee