You are viewing 1 of your 1 free articles
Council accuses G15 association of backtracking on social rent promises for prison site
A large London housing association has been accused by a council of watering down its promises over social rent delivery at a high-profile former prison site.
Peabody, which owns around 66,000 homes, bought the Holloway Prison site in Islington, north London, from the Ministry of Justice last year.
Helped by a £42m loan from the Greater London Authority (GLA), Peabody has pledged to make 60% of the 1,000 homes delivered at the redeveloped former women’s prison affordable.
Initially, Peabody said that 70% of the affordable homes delivered would be for social rent – equating to 42% of the overall scheme.
However, Islington Council has now jumped on comments allegedly made by one of the housing association’s project managers for the scheme at a recent residents’ consultation meeting, stating that 35% of the scheme will be for social rent instead.
Islington Council’s policy is that 50% of homes delivered on public land must be for affordable tenures including 35% for social rent.
READ MORE
Diarmaid Ward, cabinet member for housing and development at Islington Council, told Inside Housing: “Proportionately at 60% genuinely affordable it would be 42% for social rent and 18% intermediate.
“That was always the understanding, of me and campaigners and the local community.
“So it was a great shame to hear that one of Peabody’s project managers said they can only commit to 35%, and also a great shame that they said the reason is because the council is insisting on target rent rather than London Affordable Rent.
“This has always been our position and it shouldn’t be a surprise to any developer.”
Target rent refers to the base social rent level set by the government, while London Affordable Rent is the GLA’s slightly more expensive social rent-approximate product.
A spokesperson for Peabody said: “We wanted to buy this site to deliver a significant amount of affordable housing in a borough where we already house 5,000 families.
“We have a strong track record of providing genuinely affordable housing in Islington and our aim is to deliver as much social rent as possible – at target rent level – within a great-quality scheme at Holloway.
“We’ll continue our discussions on this with the council and the community.”
Peabody has invested more than £100m in new social and supported housing in Islington since 2017, not including the Holloway Prison site.
It is undertaking the scheme in partnership with developer London Square, with consultation work ongoing.
The site has been a significant source of local interest in recent years, with feminist action group Sisters Uncut occupying its buildings in 2017 to demand affordable housing and domestic abuse services through the redevelopment.
At a glance: the different types of rent in London
Picture: Getty
Social rent: The amount of social rent a person pays depends on the location and size of the property, and is set according to a complex formula, but it is typically set at between 50% and 60% of market rent.
Affordable rent: Introduced by the coalition government in 2011, ‘affordable’ rent can be up to 80% of market rent, although many associations have been charging lower than this.
London Affordable Rent: A tenure introduced by Sadiq Khan that is lower than national affordable rent and based on target rent levels towards which social rents are gradually being raised. This makes it higher than average social rents in the capital, but in line with the rent that would likely be charged if a new social rent unit was built and set according to the same formula.
London Living Rent: A rental product aimed at middle-income Londoners introduced by Sadiq Khan, with rents set at one-third of average local earnings.
Target rent: A social rent level calculated by the government, which council and housing associations should use to move their social rents to over time.
