Housing - Tackling under occupancy

Published on Thu 14th Dec 2006

London continues to face an acute housing shortage. While the London Mayor has made some progress in identifying the extent of the housing problem, I am concerned that few steps have been made towards increasing levels of affordable accommodation for families in most dire need.

Due to the pressures of a growing population and high house prices in the capital, increasing numbers of families waiting for affordable housing are forced to live in temporary or unsuitable accommodation. Overcrowding is by far the most significant issue - accounting for over half of London's total housing requirements.

A study by the Mayor in 2004 found that London needed to build 35,000 new homes a year, over the next decade, in order to provide suitable housing for new and existing populations. Since then, levels of new building have increased markedly, from around 21,500 in 2002 to 27,364 in 2004/05.

Whilst welcoming the increase in overall housing delivery, I am concerned that the proportion of new affordable accommodation has remained static at around 30% - well below the 50% target set in the London Plan.

The slow delivery of affordable accommodation means that today, around 800,000 Londoners, including 260,000 children, are living in overcrowded homes, 60,000 households in temporary accommodation.

The shortage of family sized, three or four bedroom affordable homes is particularly problematic. The Mayor's own figures estimate that 8,600 new social-rented homes with four bedrooms or more would be needed each year to meet London's needs and clear the backlog. This is around ten times more than are being built at present.

New powers awarded to the Mayor mean that he has taken on the responsibilities of the former London Housing Board, to prepare a statutory London Housing Strategy and to distribute the affordable housing pot. He has indicated that he will use his new powers to push for more family sized homes, continuing the Housing Corporation's programme to ensure that 35% of new affordable home built are three bedroomed or larger.

More will need to be done, both at regional level and at local authority level to increase the supply of family sized housing and to ensure that existing London homes are used to maximum benefit. Alongside new home building, one of the most important issues to be addressed in all sectors is the problem of under occupancy.

As research from the Joseph Rowntree Foundation has shown, growing prosperity over the last century has meant an increase in the number of bedrooms that households occupy. Meanwhile demographic trends have also been towards smaller families. This has meant a significant rise in the proportion of households occupying dwellings with two or more bedrooms above the standard, from a fifth of all households in 1971 to a third in 2004/05, UK wide.

Under-occupancy in London compounds the problem of overcrowding. The Mayor's housing strategy evidence base (2005) reported that nearly three quarters of a million households in London were underoccupied (24%). Proportionately, this applies more to owner-occupied than socially rented homes, 36% as opposed to 8%. Notwithstanding, 64,000 homes belonging to boroughs or to registered social landlords are under-occupied. Data from the GLA's 2005 London and Sub-Regional Strategy Support Studies indicates that around 51,000 of these are three-bedroom homes, and a further 10,000 four bed-roomed homes.

The pressure to build larger socially rented homes could be eased by more initiatives to tackle under-occupancy in the socially rented sector. I welcome the use of incentive-based initiatives that some boroughs have introduced to encourage tenants with spare bedrooms to move to smaller properties. Islington Council, for example, are operating a successful scheme, which encourages couples under-occupying family proprieties to move to smaller properties, offering £500 per bedroom to help cover moving costs.

Freeing up larger homes will not solve overcrowding immediately, but alongside other initiatives to tackle empty homes, and to restore proprieties back into use, will play an important part in helping to meet London's long-term housing goals quicker.

Liberal Democrats on the London Assembly will be following the Mayor's progress in formulating the London Housing Strategy and contributing in the New Year. We would welcome your input. The consultation on the 'Towards the Mayor's Housing Strategy' is ongoing until 07/02/06.

http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/housing/strategy/docs/towards-housing-strat.pdf