Council Wants Views on Housing Strategy for Next Five Years

Targeting 4,000 new affordable units but little mention of building height

An aerial view of the Southall Green Quarter scheme. Picture: Berkeley

May 15, 2024

Ealing Council wants to hear the views of residents on its strategy for housing in the borough over the next five years.

The borough has around 7,500 families on the housing waiting list and since 2018, private rents have almost doubled in some areas, and the total number of private rented properties across London is down by more than 40%.

Due to rising prices and a freeze on local housing benefit, the council says it has been a huge spike in the number of families approaching the council for emergency help with their housing.

Having seen the highest number of housing completions in London in 2022/23 with 2,100 new homes built, it has set itself a number of ambitious targets including 4,000 new ‘genuinely affordable’ housing units, a £400 million investment in social housing, 40% of the total of new units to be affordable and an end the need for homeless families to stay in temporary accommodation. Ealing currently has the 10th highest proportion of families in temporary accommodation in England and the fourth highest level of sleeping rough in London. One in 42 households in the borough are classed as homeless or threatened with homelessness and the number has increased by over a fifth in the last two year.

It says it plans to ‘work with developers to implement design policy and guidance in support of high-quality homes and place shaping’. However, no mention of building heights appears in the consultation documents leading some local campaigners to be concerned that tall buildings will be seen as the way to deliver much of the units needed.

The council is aiming to attract further investment in new housing through its “Good for Ealing” across all types of tenure as well as intermediate housing, build to rent and temporary accommodation and it will explore alternative funding and partners such as For-Profit Registered Providers and institutional investors. Partnerships are to be developed with other areas with the possibility of a new town or series of housing communities being built outside the borough.

Underused and poor-quality sheltered housing schemes which could better meet ‘a wider range of housing needs’ could be redeveloped.

There is also a plan to develop a boroughwide retrofit strategy to increase the energy efficiency of homes in the borough.

At present 46% of households are owner occupied down from 51% in the 2011 census. 19.5% of housing is classed as affordable which is below the London average of 23.1%

The number of social rented homes in the borough has fallen by 9,079 to around 24,000 since 1980 due to Right to Buy and the average wait for a three-bed socially rented home in the borough is 14 years.

There has also been a big increase in Houses in Multiple Occupation with an estimated 8,360 across Ealing.

The average property price in the borough is 16 times the average salary and private sector rents have rocketed. Southall has traditionally been the cheapest place to rent but there has been a 90% increase in what landlords charge between 2010 and 2022. 34% of homes in the borough are in the private rental sector.

In 2022/23, 1,195 of the homes completed were classed as affordable but the Local Authority itself did not deliver any units. Most homes built during the year were provided by the private sector with the rest from Housing Associations.

The intention is to prioritise the delivery of London Living Rented homes over Shared Ownership properties, which have proved problematical for some people who have moved into them.

The council will also be exploring opportunities using external funds and it will be looking how Broadway Living, a council owned vehicle which was meant to help it boost housing starts, could be used to provide more support.

Councillor Peter Mason, the leader of Ealing Council, said, “Working with people across Ealing is essential as we look to make our borough a fairer place to live, and now we want to gather your views on our new plan to tackle the housing crisis. We’ve already got one of the strongest home building records in London, and we want to continue that hard work, providing the genuinely affordable homes that our residents need and helping to build communities full of pride, identity and purpose, across our 7 towns”.

Councillor Shital Manro, the council’s cabinet member for good growth and new housing, said, “We know the scale of the issues faced and the importance of getting this right. We believe that our new draft housing strategy sets out bold and ambitious plans and we want to hear from our communities to find out what you think.

“Our new approach to housing builds on the council’s pledge to be open, transparent, and inclusive, and to make sure that local people are at the centre of the decisions we take. We know that when it comes to building new homes, one size does not fit all, so we are adapting our approach so that we can respond to the different housing needs across the borough”.

The consultation run until 30 July and will see a variety of engagement events with tenants, landlords, and other local community groups before the housing strategy is finalised in September.

Take part in the short survey by clicking here.