You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Kensington MP: borough could become housing ‘elephant’s graveyard’
The London Borough of Kensington and Chelsea could become “an elephant’s graveyard” of expensive, empty homes, MP Emma Dent Coad has warned.
In a report entitled After Grenfell, Ms Coad wrote that rising house prices, overcrowding and deprived areas and falling levels of social housing were contributing to housing inequality across the borough.
The report looked at a range of issues affecting inequality in Kensington and Chelsea, which has the highest house prices in the UK. It found that in Golborne Ward, a short walk from Grenfell Tower, 68% of children live in overcrowded homes, while in some areas this figure was just 17%.
Examining the rehousing effort after the fire at the tower, which killed at least 80 people, the report found that 311 households are still in hotels or B&Bs after being affected by the fire.
This figure is higher than the one given by Kensington and Chelsea Council in its weekly updates – 203 – as it includes families from the Walkways, which are adjacent to the tower, and other nearby homes.
READ MORE
In these properties, families were made homeless when the fire destroyed the boiler in Grenfell Tower that provided water for much of the surrounding area.
Although heating has been restored, many are unwilling to return to their homes.
The council was recently accused of insensitivity in its policy towards these families.
Elizabeth Campbell, leader of Kensington and Chelsea Council, said: “Using the Grenfell disaster to try and drive a wedge between our communities in the borough is opportunistic.
“This report, littered with factual errors, only tells us some of the things we know already and want to tackle in the coming years under the council’s new leadership.
“It offers no solutions – which is both surprising and disappointing for a local MP and councillor.”
The report criticised developers for using viability assessments “to wriggle out” of affordable housing obligations, the government for deregulating the social housing sector and the council for spending £10m on property outside the borough to temporarily house homeless people.
It also noted: “The number of social homes in [Kensington and Chelsea] is reducing, as housing associations sell off ‘non-viable’ homes to the private market or transfer them to ‘affordable’ rent. These sales used to be subject to [Section 9 of the Housing Act 1996] requests to the council, but that process has also been deregulated.
Ms Dent Coad singled two housing associations for criticism over the number of homes she claimed they had sold off or converted from social to affordable rent – Notting Hill and Genesis. Genesis disposed of 546 social rented properties between 2013/14 and 2015/16, but 332 were sold to another provider for continued use as social housing - a fact not mentioned in the report.
A spokesperson for Genesis said: "In the past five years, we have also delivered over 3,000 new mixed tenure homes, nearly a third of which were for social rent and a further 685 for affordable rent and shared ownership.
“Disposals are primarily made as part of our strategic commitment to reviewing and potentially withdrawing from some peripheral areas where we lack the scale to make a significant impact on ’place’ or support the wider housing objectives of the local authority. In other cases it is for reasons of viability.
“The data regarding conversions to affordable rent is correct, but this is because we have had to do this since 2011 as a condition of government grant funding.”
A Notting Hill Housing spokesperson said: “Notting Hill Housing has disposed of 40 properties since 2013, 12 of which were in Kensington and Chelsea. We do have a policy of active asset ,anagement which sees us sell properties that are either unviable due to high repair costs or unsuitable for families, such as bedsits, in high value areas. This allows us to provider a higher number of family homes that are desperately needed around London.
“The data regarding affordable rent conversions is accurate, but since 2011 the conversion of homes to affordable rent when they become available for reletting has been a requirement of government grant funding. However, our affordable rent levels average at around 60-65% of market rates, rather than the 80% limit, and our affordable rents are always kept below the area’s housing benefit cap."
Never Again campaign
Inside Housing has launched a campaign to improve fire safety following the Grenfell Tower fire
Never Again: campaign asks
Inside Housing is calling for immediate action to implement the learning from the Lakanal House fire, and a commitment to act – without delay – on learning from the Grenfell Tower tragedy as it becomes available.
LANDLORDS
- Take immediate action to check cladding and external panels on tower blocks and take prompt, appropriate action to remedy any problems
- Update risk assessments using an appropriate, qualified expert.
- Commit to renewing assessments annually and after major repair or cladding work is carried out
- Review and update evacuation policies and ‘stay put’ advice in light of risk assessments, and communicate clearly to residents
GOVERNMENT
- Provide urgent advice on the installation and upkeep of external insulation
- Update and clarify building regulations immediately – with a commitment to update if additional learning emerges at a later date from the Grenfell inquiry
- Fund the retrofitting of sprinkler systems in all tower blocks across the UK (except where there are specific structural reasons not to do so)
We will submit evidence from our research to the Grenfell public inquiry.
The inquiry should look at why opportunities to implement learning that could have prevented the fire were missed, in order to ensure similar opportunities are acted on in the future.
