We want council rent housing, not council-led social cleansing

New report commissioned by Public Interest Law Centre and authored by Dr Joe Penny of UCL’s Urban Laboratory shows how government and council defined ‘Affordable housing’ drives up the cost of homes for working-class communities.

The report finds that estate regeneration projects which feature demolition routinely underproduce truly affordable* housing for those on low incomes, and increase rents of council and social housing by an average of more than £80 per week.  It reveals that the unaffordability of “affordable” housing options, replacing council-rent homes after estate demolition, is worsening the housing crisis for working-class Londoners.  At the same time, councils are playing ‘property developer’ driving forward gentrification. Therefore the call for ‘council housing, not council cleansing’ is arguably more fitting today than ‘social housing, not social cleansing’.

*Truly affordable housing is the term benchmarked in the report using the UN-Habitat’s definition of affordability: rent that costs no more than 30% of a household’s total monthly income. The report found that for some tenures on redeveloped sites, so-called “affordable” rent could be as high as 76% of a household’s income.

Main findings of the report

The report studies six of the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ regeneration projects across three London Boroughs including the Aylesbury Estate and the Heygate Estate.

It considered three different models of cross-subsidy estate regeneration: developer-led approach, local-housing company approach, and council-led approach.

Across all three cross-subsidy models in the report:

• The loss of social and council housing and the displacement of low-income working-class tenants are embedded features of regeneration projects that involve demolition
• All underproduce the housing that Londoners need the most (council rent and social rent)
• All overproduce the type of housing London has the least need for (market sale and rent)
• The total number of council and social housing was reduced by all but one of the regeneration projects
• Demolition and redevelopment of council estates increases the rents of council and social housing by more than £80 per week on average
• 23,551 new homes have been or are expected to be delivered by 2035
• 8,629 council rented homes have been or will be demolished across the six cases
• There will be a net loss of 2,151 truly affordable council homes
• Of the homes due to be built, just 6,478 (27%) of these homes are replacement social rented homes
• Almost double the amount of social or council homes will be for private market sale or rent (11,961, 51%).

Cross-subsidy models don’t produce affordable housing

The cross-subsidy approach to estate regeneration has been the dominant model of estate regeneration for the past two decades and looks set to continue under the Labour government.

This is when council estates are demolished to make way for expensive properties which are put on the market or rented privately. In theory, the new private homes fund the construction of “affordable” homes on the sites.

However, the report has found that the word “affordable” is used with no consideration for what is truly affordable for people who need these housing options the most.  It is being used to platform affordable housing solutions for middle-income earners being prioritised over housing solutions for the record levels of people in temporary accommodation – 145,800 children in temporary accommodation – up 15% in a year.

Just open the door!

At the report launch, a member of Focus E15 housing campaign and resident from the Carpenters Estate in Newham, East London, gave a fitting analogy for the housing crisis from the position of a temporary tenant  living on an estate facing cross-subsidy redevelopment: “it’s like you’re watching a film and there’s a car on the train tracks with someone inside struggling to get out as a train speeds towards them…they are trying everything but the door handle…and you are screaming at the screen for them tojust open the door!  We need to open the door!”

Download the report:

Download The promise of cross-subsidy: Why estate demolition cannot solve London’s housing emergency.

Download the guide to the report:

To make the evidence as accessible as possible, PILC have created a guide to the report called What Golden Era: A guide to help challenge estate demolition plans with hard facts.

Watch PILC’s short film:

What Golden Era? 5 things you need to know about council house building in London – YouTube

On Saturday 19^th October Focus E15 campaign will be holding a speak out demanding an end to temporary accommodation, and calling for safe secure truly affordable council housing!  Join us!

12pm-2pm / outside former Wilkos on the Stratford Broadway, Newham E15.