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1 February 2010

The London Housing Strategy

The London H

ousing Strategy 2010


February 2010

Greater London Authority February 2010

Published by Greater London Authority City Hall The Queen’s Walk More London London SE1 2AA

www.london.gov.ukenquiries 020 7983 4100 minicom 020 7983 4458

ISBN 978 1 84781 330 5

Photographs: Pages 4, 42 and 84 © Belinda Lawley. Cover and pages 12 and 68 © Shutterstock. Page 31 © Eleanor Ward.

Copies of this report are available from www.london.gov.uk

Printed on Evolution Satin paper: 75 per cent recycled fibre content; 25 per cent virgin fibre, 10 per cent FSC sourced; FSC and NAPM certified.

Contents

Foreword 5

About this document 7

1 Raising aspirations, promoting opportunity 11

1.1 Providing more homes 13 1.2 Helping homeowners and first time buyers 19 1.3 Improving the social rented sector 26 1.4 Improving the private rented sector 36

2 Improving homes, transforming neighbourhoods 41

2.1 Designing better homes 43 2.2 Producing greener homes 49 2.3 Revitalising homes and communities 59

3 Maximising delivery, optimising value for money 67

3.1 Delivering across London 69 3.2 Delivering locally 76

Appendices 83

1 London’s public housing investment 85 2 HCA affordable housing completions profile, 2008-12 91 3 Borough affordable housing delivery targets, 2008-11 92

References 93

This is London’s first ever statutory housing strategy. I am proud to be the first London Mayor to have produced such a document for the capital, and am even more proud that my housing policies are already having such a positive impact on this great city and those who live here.

The last two years have been exceptionally challenging for London’s housing market. Sales have slumped, prices have fallen and confidence has plummeted. For developers and homebuyers alike, access to finance has been incredibly limited, squeezing both supply and demand. Yet, despite the most serious downturn for fifty years, under my mayoralty London is not only delivering tens of thousands more affordable homes but has also had some remarkable successes in tackling some of its most enduring and deep-seated housing problems.

On housing delivery, I am well on track to meet my target of 50,000 affordable homes before the Olympics – more homes than in any single Mayoral term. I have also ensured that regeneration has continued to happen, despite the tough economic challenges faced by these major schemes. Without my strong partnership with the boroughs, my chairmanship of the Homes and Communities Agency London Board and a new and more flexible approach to housing investment, this could not have happened. Over the coming months and years, I will build on these strong foundations so that we continue to generate the levels of affordable housing that London so badly needs, and so richly deserves. In particular, I will seek to give boroughs more influence over housing delivery

at a local level, through delegated delivery contracts.

But achieving overall housing numbers is not enough. Equally important is ensuring that these homes are fit to meet the range of Londoners’ needs and aspirations - for larger homes, for supported homes, and for both social rented and intermediate homes. I am particularly committed to helping London’s hard-pressed families, who have suffered so badly from London’s housing shortages and affordability problems. That is why I am so pleased to report that my target for 42 per cent of social rented homes to be family-sized is well on the way to being met. It is also why I want to improve families’ access to intermediate housing through my First Steps programme, by increasing the supply of larger homes and making more families eligible.

The quantity of new homes must not be at the expense of quality. It is essential that the homes we build today are fit for 21st century living. Together, my Housing Design Guide and new London Plan will transform the design of London’s housing, making hobbit homes a thing

Foreword

6 The London Housing Strategy

of the past and creating a bricks and mortar legacy of which we can be proud.

Tackling homelessness and reducing overcrowding are two of my key priorities, with targets to end rough sleeping by 2012 and to halve severe overcrowding among social tenants by 2016. My London Delivery Board is already making extraordinary progress. The number of the most entrenched rough sleepers in the capital has been cut by two thirds in only nine months and a plan of action is in place for a sustainable solution to what is one of the city’s most intractable problems.

I have consulted extensively on this strategy and worked closely with partners to achieve these notable successes. I am confident that stakeholders throughout the capital share the vision and ambitions it sets out in this strategy. I know that – even in the face of an unrelenting recession and a potentially uncertain future for housing investment - by working together we will continue to fulfil these ambitions to ensure that London becomes a city where the homes and communities we live in bring us together and become a platform for success.

Boris Johnson Mayor of London

What is the London Housing Strategy?The GLA Act 2007 gave the Mayor new powers and responsibilities in regard to housing, including

• that the Mayor must prepare and publish a statutory London Housing Strategy

• that this strategy should set out the Mayor’s assessment of housing conditions and the need for further housing provision, his policies to meet needs and improve housing conditions and measures that other bodies are to be encouraged to take to achieve the aims of the strategy

• that the Mayor must make recommendations on the amount of funding from the Regional Housing Pot in London made available to the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) and how much should be allocated to London boroughs (see Appendix 1)

• that the Mayor must make recommendations on the broad distribution of the HCA programme in London and on how London boroughs should use the Regional Housing Pot funding allocated to them.

This document, London’s first statutory housing strategy, sets out the Mayor’s vision for housing in the capital. This vision, and the policies that underpin it, form the framework for determining the priorities for London’s public housing investment – over £5 billion in the current spending round. But this document is not simply a housing investment strategy; it goes further, including policies on a number of key housing issues where a pan-London approach is essential to improving the lives of Londoners and the city in which they live.

The Mayor’s vision and policies have been informed by an in-depth assessment of housing needs and conditions in the capital. This is summarised in Housing in London 2009 – the evidence base for the strategy1.

ConsultationExtensive consultation was undertaken throughout the development process, to help shape the strategy. This included:

• statutory consultation with the London Assembly and functional bodies between November 2008 and January 2009

• statutory consultation with the public between May and August 2009, during which over 140 written responses were received

• a major consultation conference in July 2009, attended by over 250 people

• engagement by GLA officers and the Mayor’s Office with key stakeholders at well over 200 meetings and events, as well as through the Mayor’s Housing Forum, the Mayor’s Housing Equalities Standing Group and through round table events convened by the GLA on specific policy issues.

A report has been published alongside this strategy, containing an analysis of the consultation that took place and the issues raised.

Integrated impact assessmentThe development of this strategy has been subject to a full Integrated Impact Assessment (IIA). The IIA approach addresses all of the Mayor’s legal duties to carry out comprehensive assessments of the strategy and its policies

About this document


within one integrated process. It covers the legal requirements to undertake a Sustainability Appraisal (including a Strategic Environmental Assessment) and also considers health, equalities and community safety.

The IIA has influenced the preparation of the strategy, ensuring that the range of issues outlined above have been taken into account at each stage of the development process. Four documents relating to the IIA are available on the GLA website: the reports of the IIA and the equalities impact assessment undertaken on the public consultation draft; the report of the IIA undertaken on the statutory draft; and the IIA post-adoption report.

The relationship between the London Housing Strategy and the Mayor’s other strategiesThere is a strong inter-relationship and inter-dependency between the London Housing Strategy and the Mayor’s other strategies. Most important is the London Plan – London’s spatial development strategy. The replacement London Plan is due to be formally published in 2011, and a draft of this document was published for public consultation in the autumn of 2009. The draft will be subject to an examination in public (EiP) in the summer of 2010. Then, following any revisions, it will be submitted to the Secretary of State before it is formally published.

Although the current London Plan will be in force until the final version of the replacement is published, it is the draft replacement London Plan that has been referenced throughout this strategy. This is because its policies represent

the Mayor’s current thinking. They will also be treated as material considerations that can be taken into account in deciding planning applications, gathering weight the further into the replacement process they go. However, as outlined above, because the draft replacement London Plan has yet to go through the EiP process, any of its proposed policies referred to in this document may be subject to change.

The Mayor’s draft Transport Strategy and draft Economic Development Strategy, published alongside the draft replacement London Plan, also relate strongly to elements of the housing strategy (and vice versa), as do the Mayor’s social and environmental strategies.

Delivery partnersThe HCA is the primary agency for the delivery of this strategy. Through the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008, it is required to have regard to the strategy when making its investment decisions in London. The HCA’s London Board is chaired by the Mayor, and includes representatives from London Councils, the LDA and the London Thames Gateway Development Corporation, alongside the HCA’s chair and chief executive.

London’s boroughs have a particularly key delivery role and, since he took office, the Mayor has established a close and co-operative working relationship with them. The GLA Act 2007 specifies that local housing strategies must be in general conformity with the London strategy. Guidance to inform boroughs about the requirements, scope and implications of general conformity, and the process that the Mayor is

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adopting to ensure that boroughs’ strategic aims and policies are in line with his own, has been published with this strategy.

As well as the HCA, boroughs and other organisations represented on the HCA London Board, there is a range of other statutory, private and voluntary sector partners without whom the delivery of this strategy would not be possible. Their roles are highlighted throughout this document and in its accompanying delivery plan (see the section below on implementation, monitoring and review).

The structure of this documentThis statutory version of the strategy is significantly shorter than the two previously published consultation drafts, with a very different format. With implementation in mind, this document focuses more explicitly on the Mayor’s priorities, providing more detail about each of the policies and how they will be delivered. To ensure ease of use and navigation, it also contains less contextual information. This is available in the previous Assembly and public consultation versions and in Housing in London 2009, the Mayor’s annually published evidence base for the strategy referred to above.

There are three substantive sections in this strategy. The first sets out London’s housing needs and deals with the pressing issues in each housing tenure; the second focuses on the design and quality of homes; and the final section looks at delivery, both locally and across London. Each of these contains a brief contextual introduction followed by sub-sections that comprise: the justifications for the policies

that follow; the policies themselves; and an elaboration of each of the policies.

Implementation, monitoring and reviewA separate delivery plan has been published alongside this strategy. This sets out the actions needed to implement each of the policies, and the timescales and partners involved. It also specifies how policies will be monitored. A London Housing Strategy monitoring report will be published each year, alongside the London Plan Annual Monitoring Report. Details of mechanisms for monitoring the strategy are also contained in the IIA post-adoption report.

While it is wide-ranging and contains a number of medium to long term aims and targets, this strategy focuses primarily on the current investment period, 2008-11. It is therefore envisaged that it will need to be reviewed later this year in the light of the Spending Review, in order to determine the priorities for the following investment period.

Equal life chances for allLondon has a proud history of welcoming people, of promoting equality and of being inclusive. The city is uniquely cosmopolitan in character, with a high level of migration into London from both inside and outside the United Kingdom. The Mayor is committed to promoting opportunity, and is determined that all Londoners should be able to share in their city’s success and that there should be equal life chances and better outcomes for all who live, work or study in the capital. Housing provision that meets the varying needs of Londoners is one key element of this. Low income Londoners


and some groups are disproportionately affected by the shortage of good quality affordable housing. Others may face discrimination or need protection in the home or a move to alternative accommodation, such as women fleeing violence or those being harassed on the grounds of race or sexual orientation. The Mayor is committed to providing more accessible housing to meet the needs of those disabled, deaf and older people living in unsuitable homes that prevent them from living independent lives.

1 Raising aspirations, promoting opportunity

1.1 Providing more homes To promote opportunity and a real choice of homes for all Londoners, in a range of tenures that meets their needs at a price they can afford.

1.2 Helping homeowners and first time buyers To deliver the First Steps housing programme that will enable many more Londoners to become homeowners, and to develop initiatives to help existing homeowners at risk of repossession and homelessness.

1.3 Improving the social rented sector To provide many more affordable rented homes and ensure that social renting provides an opportunity to foster aspirations and gives support to those who need it.

1.4 Improving the private rented sector To promote a vibrant and attractive private rented sector to support London’s economic vitality.

VisionTo promote opportunity and a real choice of homes for all Londoners, in a range of tenures that meets their needs at a price they can afford.

London is one of the great global cities and a dynamo of the national economy. However, the city’s economic success has so far come at a cost for many of those seeking a home here, resulting in problems of affordability, homelessness and overcrowding.

Since 2008, convulsions in the global economy have had a powerful impact on London’s housing market. As yet it is too early to say whether these changes have run their course, or exactly what shape the recovery might take. After falling 15 per cent from their peak, average house prices in London showed signs of stabilising or even rising in summer 2009, but with the level of sales still less than half that of two years ago any recovery in prices must for now be considered tentative2 3 4. The drop in prices has not changed London’s position as the most expensive and least affordable part of the country. Average house prices are 51 per cent higher and private rents 64 per cent higher in London than in England as a whole5. First time buyers in London are paying an average deposit of 28 per cent of the purchase price of the home, up from an average of ten to 12 per cent in recent years and more than their average annual income6 7. The ratio of lower quartile earnings to lower quartile house prices,

the government’s standard measure of housing affordability, is 9.3 in London compared to seven in England as a whole8.

London’s population is expected to rise from 7.6 million in 2008 to around 8.9 million in 20319. This growth is primarily driven by natural increase (ie the excess of births over deaths), with migration indirectly contributing by lowering the average age of Londoners and thereby increasing the overall fertility rate10. The number of households will grow faster than the overall population as the average household size is falling, due mainly to later marriage, fewer children, more divorce and longer lives. Of the 750,000 to 850,000 additional households that London will have by 2031, almost three quarters will be single person households11.

Housing supply has not kept pace with either demographic or economic trends. New housing supply in London averaged 19,000 homes a year throughout the 1990s but has risen in recent years, with total net housing provision of 28,199 homes in 2007/0812. The failure of housing supply to match demand has led to increased overcrowding and homelessness in the capital. Around 207,000 of London’s households are overcrowded, up around a third on the number ten years ago, with overcrowding affecting one in eight social renting households and one in ten in the private rented sector13. The number of homeless households in temporary accommodation in London has fallen in the last

New housing supply in London averaged 19,000 homes a year throughout the 1990s but has risen in recent years, with total net housing provision of 28,199 homes in 2007/08

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1.1 Providing more homes


few years but remains high at 43,500, just over three quarters of the national total14.

1.1.1 Providing more homesIt is clear that London desperately needs more homes. Despite the recent falls in house prices, home ownership is still out of reach of most of those on low and middle incomes, and many Londoners are in acute housing need.

Taking existing and future housing market conditions into account, the GLA’s 2008 London Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) concluded that at least 32,600 new homes, including 18,200 affordable homes, are needed every year over the term of the London Plan15.

For the first time in many years, there is enough housing capacity in the capital for the new homes that London needs. Based on an assessment of housing land capacity carried out by the GLA and the boroughs, the Mayor’s draft replacement London Plan (referred to hereafter as the draft London Plan) proposes a planning target for an annual housing provision of at least 33,380 market and affordable homes each year. The capacity is there – the challenge will be delivering it.

Affordable housing targetsThe Mayor sets two types of affordable housing target, one set out in the London Plan and the other in the London Housing Strategy. There are important differences in how each is defined and determined.

The draft London Plan proposes a long term Londonwide target of 13,200 new affordable homes each year. This is measured in terms of net conventional supply: that is, supply from new developments or conversions, adjusted to take account of demolitions and other losses.

The London Housing Strategy sets out a Londonwide target for delivery of 50,000 affordable homes in the four years 2008/09 to 2011/12. This includes conventional supply but also counts acquisitions of homes for affordable housing, for example assisted purchase by those on intermediate incomes or acquisitions of homes on the market by housing associations for letting out at social rents.

The draft London Plan proposed targets are determined by assessing need, housing capacity and viability. The London Housing Strategy targets are determined by the availability of public sector investment and how this can best deliver the London Plan targets and the wider aims set out in the London Housing Strategy.

London’s population is expected to rise from 7.6 million in 2008 to between 8.8 and 9.1 million in 2031

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Policy 1.1A | The 50 per cent affordable housing target will be abolished.

The Mayor’s draft London Plan will abolish the previous Mayor’s 50 per cent affordable housing planning target. Instead, it adopts a new regional planning target for an average net supply of at least 13,200 new affordable homes each year in London, taking into account economic viability and the likely availability of public sector investment. Borough-level targets should take account of this regional planning target and evidence of housing requirements at local, sub-regional and regional levels.

Policy 1.1B | The current investment programme will deliver 50,000 affordable homes in London over the four years 2008 to 2012.

The housing market downturn has inevitably affected affordable housing delivery across London. However, despite extraordinarily difficult market conditions and the worst housing crash for a generation, the Mayor is committed to delivering at least 50,000 affordable homes, even with no new resources, by 2012 (see Appendix 2). The Mayor has negotiated affordable housing delivery targets with each of the London boroughs (these targets are set out in Appendix 3). These are set to deliver over 40,000 homes over the three years 2008 to 2011, and a further 10,000 affordable homes will be delivered across the boroughs in 2011/12. He will work with the HCA and

the boroughs to deliver these homes and to identify new avenues for increasing affordable housing delivery (see Section 3.1 on housing delivery). From 2011 on, local affordable housing targets will primarily be set through London boroughs’ planning policies as set out in their local development frameworks, although additional targets may be agreed where a delegated delivery agreement is in place (see Section 3.1.1).

In 2008/09, there were 12,890 affordable homes delivered in London.

Most affordable housing delivery in London is funded by the HCA but a proportion is funded through other sources, such as homes built without grant as part of Section 106 agreements.

1.1.2 Providing a better mix of homesJust 17 per cent of new homes built by housing associations in London (both social rented and intermediate homes) had three bedrooms or more in 2007/08, down from 39 per cent in 1997/9816. This failure to provide enough larger homes over recent years has resulted in the large increases in overcrowding referred to above17. The lack of larger homes is also likely to have resulted in more families leaving London to find a suitable home at a price they can afford.

According to the SHMA, around 40 per cent of the requirement for new social housing is for homes with four bedrooms or more, reflecting both high levels of overcrowding and the small numbers of new family homes being built18.


While there is obviously a significant demand for family-sized market homes in the capital, the SHMA found little net requirement for this type of housing across London, although there are bound to be local variations. This low net requirement for family-sized homes in the market arises mainly because so much of London’s future household growth will consist of single person households, and because so many of London’s existing owner occupied and privately rented homes are family-sized.

Policy 1.1C | More family-sized homes, particularly affordable homes, will be provided, with 42 per cent of social rented and, by 2011, 16 per cent of intermediate homes having three bedrooms or more.

While the target for larger social rented homes has applied since 2008, the increase in the proportion of family-sized intermediate homes is being phased in as follows: eight per cent in 2008/9, 12 per cent the following year and 16 per cent by 2010/11.

The Mayor will work with the HCA and with boroughs to deliver these targets. The exact proportions will vary across London, and boroughs should research the need for family-sized homes in their area. The Mayor will aim to exceed these targets in future years. Boroughs should also have regard to the draft London Plan’s proposed policies on design and housing choice (see Section 2.1).

Progress is already being made, with 37 per cent of social rented and seven per cent

of new build intermediate homes funded during 2008/9 and the first three quarters of 2009/10 having at least three bedrooms19. The overall size mix of new housing provision is monitored in the London Plan Annual Monitoring Reports, and the HCA monitors not only the number of bedrooms but also the number of persons housed for the new affordable homes that it funds.

1.1.3 Creating mixed communitiesMixed tenure developments are essential if we are to provide the homes that London needs while creating mixed and balanced communities. Concentrations of poverty can compound the problems of deprivation and worklessness, as demonstrated by the experience of some of the large-scale mono-tenure social housing estates built in London during the post-war decades.

The recent trend for a greater proportion of new housing schemes to include a broad mix of affordable housing is to be welcomed, but large swathes of London remain dominated by one tenure, usually market housing. The concentration of social housing in a small number of London neighbourhoods is more than outweighed by the number of areas in which social housing is almost non-existent.

In 2001, 56 per cent of wards in London were more than three quarters market housing (owner occupied and private rented), while 0.5 per cent of wards were more than three quarters social housing20. In total, half of London’s social housing was concentrated in a quarter of its wards. Despite more mixed tenure developments

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being built in recent years, these patterns have not greatly changed because most development takes place in areas with sizeable amounts of existing social housing. Between 2004/05 and 2006/07, a quarter of new affordable housing in London was located in the ten per cent of wards with the most social housing21.

Policy 1.1D | New housing developments will contain an appropriate mix of market, intermediate and social rented homes.

The Mayor’s draft London Plan proposes that 60 per cent of new affordable housing should comprise social rented homes and 40 per cent should be intermediate homes, including shared ownership, shared equity and intermediate rent. The Mayor will seek to apply this benchmark to major housing schemes using his planning decision powers, although the proportions in each case will depend on a range of factors, including local context and site viability.

In addition, the HCA will give additional priority for funding to schemes that create an improved tenure mix in areas currently dominated by one tenure. Boroughs should adopt a local policy on affordable housing mix, taking into account the regional planning target and evidence of local and sub-regional needs.

Policy 1.1E | Greater social mix will be promoted in neighbourhoods dominated by a single tenure.

The Mayor will encourage mixed tenure developments across London, in line with the proposed policies in the draft London Plan and local planning policies, and supports estate regeneration schemes that diversify tenure mix on estates with high concentrations of social housing. The HCA will give priority to new affordable housing schemes that diversify the tenure mix of areas currently dominated by market housing. Boroughs are also encouraged to devise innovative and locally appropriate solutions to improve the tenure and income mix of their communities.

Half of London’s social housing is concentrated in a quarter of its wards


By combining its own land with grant funding from the Mayor’s Targeted Funding Stream and prudential borrowing, Croydon has developed its first family-sized homes built by the council for 20 years.

In the first phase, all 32 of the three, four and five bedroom homes are for families who previously lived in overcrowded conditions. Three developments have been completed so far. In Sumner Gardens, 13 homes have been built on council land previously used for prefabricated temporary homes. The site now provides high quality, energy efficient family housing that meets the Eco-Homes Excellent, Lifetime Homes and Secured by Design standards. The other completed schemes, in

New Addington, have provided a further 14 family-sized homes.

The council is about to embark on the delivery of its second phase new build housing programme, which will comprise 64 two, three and four bedroom homes, including four bungalows aimed at underoccupiers downsizing from larger homes. Eight of the 64 homes are wheelchair accessible. This phase will also achieve exemplary environmental standards, with 41 homes built to Code for Sustainable Homes level 4 and the remaining 23 at level 5. Croydon has a further 100 homes in the pipeline.

Case study | Croydon new build programme, London Borough of Croydon

VisionTo deliver the First Steps housing programme that will enable many more Londoners to become homeowners, and to develop initiatives to help existing homeowners at risk of repossession and homelessness.

Home ownership is an aspiration shared by most Londoners, but is out of reach for too many. Despite the impact of the credit crunch on house prices, London’s affordability crisis remains the most severe of any part of the country. To access home ownership in the capital requires not only far higher than average incomes but also very large deposits. Last year in London, first time buyers who purchased a home paid an average deposit of almost £90,00022. Across the country the number of first time buyers relying on help from family with their deposit has risen to around four in five, and this is likely to be higher in London23. Around 45 per cent of Londoners see high housing costs as one of the most significant downsides of life in the capital24.

Despite the difficult market conditions, home ownership remains the tenure of choice for the majority of Londoners. In a recent survey for the GLA, four out of five middle income Londoners currently renting or living with parents said they would like to own their own home25. At the same time, intermediate rented products and rent-to-buy have proved popular options for buyers who are unable to take up low cost home ownership, or uneasy about doing so in an uncertain market.

To achieve his aim of meeting the needs of London’s middle market and delivering 20,000 intermediate homes by March 2012, the Mayor will continue to reform the intermediate sector though his flagship First Steps housing programme. This has three pillars:

• widening eligibility to reflect the reality of high house prices and worse affordability in the capital, particularly for family homes

• developing the product range to address current gaps in the market

• improving access, information and the experience for buyers.

Furthermore, in response to the recent increase in mortgage arrears and repossessions, the Mayor will continue to support programmes to help struggling homeowners in London. Better tailoring of programmes to London’s regional housing market will be important to ensure that help reaches those who need it most, particularly families.

1.2.1 Expanding the intermediate offerFor many low and middle income Londoners, buying a home in the intermediate market is the solution to the problem of building up housing equity, and provides a route into home ownership. Despite recent falls in London house prices, it is as difficult as ever to get a foot on the ladder in the capital, as lenders require larger deposits, and fewer properties come onto the market. Analysis by the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) concluded in 2008 that despite falling prices London has seen the largest deterioration in housing market accessibility of any region26.

1.2 Helping homeowners and first time buyers

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Expanding the intermediate housing offer is a vital part of ensuring London’s housing market does not become polarised between those with the greatest housing wealth, and those with the most severe housing need. In particular, there are compelling arguments for expanding the intermediate housing programme to do more to provide options for families who need a larger home:

• To meet the demonstrable need for additional family-sized intermediate homes. While there is a significant demand for intermediate homes of all sizes, the SHMA found a pressing need for additional family-sized intermediate homes for households unable to afford suitable accommodation in the open market27. Over half the assessed need for intermediate housing was for homes with four or more bedrooms, and another third for three bedroom homes.

• To meet customer demand for affordable family-sized homes. In Wandsworth, for example, one in ten of those registered for intermediate housing want three or more bedrooms, rising to 20 per cent among black and minority ethnic households28.

• To reduce the flight from the capital of London’s low and middle income families.

• To ensure more mixed and balanced communities within our new housing developments.

Only seven per cent of all new build intermediate homes have three or more bedrooms, despite this proven need for larger units29. This is mainly because the production of larger intermediate homes can be financially unviable, given that the

eligible income limit has been the same - £60,000 a year - for all intermediate purchasers, regardless of the size of home they need. Steps therefore need to be taken to stimulate a greater supply of family-sized intermediate homes being built.

Policy 1.2A | Of the 50,000 affordable homes to be delivered between 2008 and 2012, 20,000 will be intermediate housing.

Intermediate homes will be delivered primarily through the HCA investment programme and through the affordable housing policies proposed in the draft London Plan (see also LHS Policy 1.1B and Section 3.1 on housing delivery).

Within the overall delivery target, provision of intermediate family-sized homes will be increased. By 2011, 16 per cent of intermediate homes should have three or more bedrooms, representing a four-fold increase on provision in the last spending round (see also LHS Policy 1.1C).

Intermediate housing includes low cost home ownership products such as shared ownership and shared equity. It also includes affordable housing options such as intermediate rent and rent-to-buy products. Intermediate housing is aimed at households that are not already homeowners, and are within the target income range (see below). A planning definition of intermediate housing is provided in the draft London Plan and London Plan Housing Supplementary Planning Guidance.

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Policy 1.2B | Eligibility for intermediate housing will be assessed in terms of income rather than employment.

Intermediate housing that receives investment from the HCA will be made available to first time buyers in the qualifying income band, and will not be restricted to employees in particular sectors (for example public sector key workers). Where intermediate housing is provided without public sector investment – for example through Section 106 developer contributions – the Mayor would encourage boroughs to make the homes available on the basis of income rather than key worker status, except where employment criteria would serve a particular local need.

Policy 1.2C | The top of the income range for intermediate housing in London should increase, for families, to £74,000.

The upper income threshold for intermediate housing should be increased to £74,000 for households with dependents. This is intended to reflect the higher cost of both developing and buying family-sized homes in London, and will provide new opportunities for households with dependents to take up intermediate housing in the capital.

The income threshold for intermediate housing is currently set at slightly different levels for the purposes of housing investment and planning. Under HCA investment criteria, intermediate housing has only been available to first time buyers with an annual household

income of up to £60,000. The effect of Policy 1.2C is to raise this investment ceiling for households with dependents buying a home with three or more bedrooms that is appropriate for their needs (but to leave the £60,000 threshold unchanged for all others).

For planning purposes, the draft London Plan proposes that for new homes to be counted as intermediate, they must be affordable to households in the income range £18,100 to £61,400, with the aim that the average of all new intermediate housing should be at the midpoint of this range. However, for family-sized homes with three or more bedrooms, it increases the top of the intermediate income range by 20 per cent, giving a new upper limit of £74,000 (rounded to the nearest £1,000). Policy 1.2C will be adopted from April 2011, subject to the Examination in Public of this related policy in the draft London Plan.

‘Families’ comprise households with children, and those that include an adult for whom a member of the household has caring responsibilities.

1.2.2 Developing the product rangeThere is a wide range of intermediate housing products in the market at the moment, available through the government, through London boroughs and, increasingly, from private developers. The government has now indicated that funding for open market products will not be renewed in 2010, with new build intermediate homes given priority. The Mayor wants to see a product range that is well adapted to


London’s high value housing market, delivering products that Londoners want and can afford – and attractive to households throughout the intermediate income range.

The recent housing market downturn has prompted a particular wave of product innovation in the intermediate rented market, most notably around rent-to-buy options. To some extent the growth of intermediate rented products has been specific to the falling housing market. It is anticipated that in future these would increasingly be delivered as rent-to-buy products, with the recent growth ceasing to continue once the housing market recovers. However, there may be a continuing role for some purely intermediate rented housing, for example as a component of mixed communities on large sites, or in regeneration schemes.

Policy 1.2D | New intermediate housing products will be developed, where appropriate, to meet London’s specific needs.

Where the needs of first time buyers are adequately served by existing products the Mayor will not intervene. However, to the extent that new products are needed to fill a gap in the market, the Mayor will work with the HCA to bring them forward under his First Steps programme. He particularly encourages the promotion of products that offer wider

housing options to encourage existing social tenants into low cost home ownership. The HCA will therefore explore piloting new products, as well as ways of tailoring existing products, that would be particularly attractive to social tenants.

First Steps is a programme, not a single scheme or product. New schemes and products will be brought to market under the First Steps umbrella as appropriate. The first such product, London and Quadrant’s ‘Up2U’, was launched in 2009, offering rent-to-buy opportunities at a number of sites across the capital. The first two Up2U schemes, in Bromley and Wandsworth, attracted 1,300 enquiries - around sixteen enquiries for every home on offer. The HCA will explore the scope for a second phase of Up2U, involving a part-grant/part-equity model.

Policy 1.2E | Homes for intermediate rent will be provided as part of a flexible intermediate product range, where appropriate to local circumstances.

The Mayor will continue to support high quality intermediate rented housing where it demonstrably meets a local need. To that end, the HCA will continue to fund intermediate rented products, including rent-to-buy, within a mixed programme of intermediate housing.

This year in London, first time buyers who purchased a home paid an average deposit of almost £90,000, with the vast majority of them reliant on a contribution from family or friends

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Products that help people save for a deposit, rather than simply providing a discount on their rent, may be particularly valuable. Products should not be funded solely as a matter of provider interest but should clearly meet the needs of the target group for intermediate housing.

Intermediate rented homes are those offered for rent at a discount of at least 20 per cent compared with the market rental value of an equivalent property. Rent-to-buy options offer a rented product with an option to take up a form of low cost home ownership in the future.

1.2.3 Improving access and informationThere is a continued demand for intermediate housing among Londoners, according to research undertaken for the GLA, with 67 per cent saying that they would consider buying a home through low cost home ownership30. However, too many are confused about what help is available to first time buyers, who qualifies for it, and how to apply. For example, half of those surveyed believe that only key workers can access intermediate housing and three quarters believe the income threshold is £30,000 or lower for single applicants. A significant proportion do not know where to go for information about their options. This confusion and uncertainty means that some Londoners may be missing out on intermediate housing opportunities.

Policy 1.2F | Marketing of and information about intermediate housing will be improved.

The HomeBuy agents for London have been awarded new contracts for 2009-11. Over the course of these contracts the Mayor and the HCA will work with the agents to ensure that improvements are made to the marketing of all intermediate products in the capital, responsive to the needs of customers and delivering value for money to the taxpayer. In particular, the HCA London Board will set additional key performance criteria for the HomeBuy agents, to ensure the best possible service for customers. A steering group will provide regular monitoring information on the performance of the HomeBuy agents’ service. The Mayor and HCA will also explore the possibility of rebranding the HomeBuy service under the First Steps banner.

Beyond 2011, there will be further opportunities to consider how marketing of and access to intermediate housing might be reformed, and the Mayor will work with the steering group to develop options for change over the next spending period. In particular, the Mayor will consider the scope to bring forward private sector solutions such as estate agent marketing of intermediate homes, with flexible finance available through intermediate products.


The Mayor will also work with the Council of Mortgage Lenders to raise their awareness of the relatively low risk of lending to shared owners.

1.2.4 Helping struggling homeownersIt is important in the current market to ensure that sufficient steps are taken to assist homeowners who may face repossession, the consequences of which are far reaching and can result in homelessness, adverse social and health consequences and a damaged credit rating.

The government’s package of measures to help homeowners at risk of repossession and homelessness is very much welcomed by the Mayor. With London’s social housing sector already the most overstretched in the country, it is vital that the mortgage rescue scheme in particular reaches families at risk of homelessness, particularly those needing the larger homes that are in shortest supply. The new higher eligible house price limit, and discretionary flexibility to raise this limit by up to 20 per cent, are a welcome recognition of London’s higher house prices and the need for more effectively targeted help for Londoners.

However, it is important that the schemes on offer are reviewed on a regular basis and that full use is made of the available flexibilities, to ensure they provide real help to Londoners through the economic downturn. It is also important that struggling households are fully aware of the options available to them, with boroughs having a critical role through

their housing options services in preventing repossessions.

The Mayor fully supports recent moves by the HCA to encourage more housing associations to participate in the mortgage rescue scheme, reflecting their status as preferred investment partners.

Policy 1.2G | Policies to help homeowners in difficulty will be tailored to London’s unique circumstances, with a particular view to helping families at risk of repossession to stay in their homes.

The government has raised the guideline ceiling for its mortgage rescue scheme and has broadened eligibility to include households in negative equity, following the Mayor making London’s case for both of these changes. The Mayor encourages boroughs, housing associations and financial advisors to participate fully in the scheme and make maximum use of the flexibilities offered in government guidance. In particular, households who are at risk of repossession and in priority need should not be excluded from the scheme on the grounds of their home being above the guideline ceiling of £305,000.

The Mayor will continue to make the case for regional flexibility in housing market policies including stamp duty, income support for mortgage interest and the income threshold for intermediate housing.

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Ten new shared ownership homes have been developed in Putney, as part of LB Wandsworth’s Hidden Homes initiative. The initiative creates new homes by redeveloping disused buildings or land owned by the council. This in turn results in regeneration, sustainability and improvements for the whole community. Specific benefits can include the removal of redundant areas prone to anti-social behaviour and, where shared ownership is developed as it was in the Putney scheme, increased tenure mix.

Built on the site of a disused council-owned

car park, the Putney development is a result of an innovative partnership, with the homes designed and built by the council and funded by both Notting Hill Housing and the HCA. They have proved extremely popular, with nearly 200 people registering an interest before their launch in June 2009 and all homes sold or under offer within a few months.

Interest in the concept is spreading across London, with at least three other boroughs considering embarking on their own programmes.

Case study | Cambalt Road, Putney, London Borough of Wandsworth


VisionTo provide many more affordable rented homes and ensure that social renting provides an opportunity to foster aspirations and gives support to those who need it.

For many Londoners, the high cost of homes, the limited availability of mortgages and low or insecure incomes put home ownership, even that offered through low cost schemes, out of reach. While the private rented sector is appropriate for many in housing need, social rented homes remain a vital component of the range of housing available to Londoners. The SHMA identifies a requirement for an additional 325,800 homes between 2007 and 2017, of which 145,600 should be social rented31. This is set against a 40 per cent fall in the number of social lettings made each year in London over the last decade, and reflects an acute shortage of social rented homes. A result of this shortage has been a reliance on temporary accommodation and a growth in severe overcrowding, particularly among families needing much larger homes.

To achieve his vision for social housing, the Mayor will increase the supply of affordable homes in the capital, including more larger homes to alleviate overcrowding and specialist provision for those with support needs. However, there is unlikely to be sufficient funding in the coming few years to resolve housing need through the supply of new social rented housing alone. Better use of the social housing stock is also required, as well as a greater emphasis on promoting social mobility - building and supporting the aspirations of existing and prospective social tenants to

improve their economic circumstances, to be more geographically mobile and to widen the housing options available to them. With many social tenants’ circumstances changing over time, a more dynamic approach is needed to ensure they are fully aware of their housing options in order to raise and meet aspirations and maximise opportunities.

1.3.1 Producing more social rented homesSocial rented housing is a vital resource. As part of a range of housing opportunities, it can provide a springboard for those who aspire to and can afford home ownership, and stability, security and affordability to those for whom buying or renting privately is not appropriate. Investing to provide more social rented housing is a vital element of the response to London’s housing shortage and is key to accommodating many of the low income workers who are essential to the capital’s economy. It is also a vital component of meeting the needs of local communities - through contributing to a choice of tenures, improved environments and better quality of life.

Policy 1.3A | Of the 50,000 affordable homes to be delivered between 2008 and 2012, 30,000 will be social rented.

Social rented homes will be delivered primarily through the HCA’s investment programme, through other partners such as the LDA and boroughs, and through the affordable housing policies proposed in the draft London Plan (see LHS Policy 1.1B and Section 3.1 on housing delivery).

1.3 Improving the social rented sector

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Within the overall delivery target, provision of social rented family-sized homes will be increased, so that between 2008 and 2011 42 per cent of new social rented homes will have three bedrooms or more (see also LHS Policy 1.1C).

Policy 1.3B | Schemes that convert temporary accommodation into permanent social homes will be supported, where they represent value for money.

The Mayor is directing investment through the Targeted Funding Stream to support schemes that can deliver additional social rented housing by converting temporary homes to permanent social homes (see Appendix 1).

Temporary to permanent schemes (referred to as the ‘settled homes initiative’ within the Targeted Funding Stream programme) combine the rental income of temporary accommodation with capital grant at levels lower than those for standard social housing schemes, to provide a permanent social asset over time. Such schemes offer the potential to capture the revenue flowing from Housing Benefit and capitalise it, and therefore can deliver additional value to the public purse.

1.3.2 Providing for allThe social housing sector provides good quality, affordable homes for people on low incomes. It also meets a diversity of needs, including

support needs and the diverse needs of groups with specific housing requirements, including Gypsies and Travellers, disabled people and older people. Many people’s support needs can be met within general needs housing, through floating support. But for some, such as older or very vulnerable people, accommodation-based support can be more appropriate.

Meeting the specific needs of communities needs to be balanced against tackling the wider impacts of acute housing shortage, such as severe overcrowding and homelessness. Overcrowding, which has a significant negative impact on communities, families and individuals, tends to be concentrated in particular neighbourhoods, is more likely to affect some minority communities, and is linked to poorer health and educational outcomes and increases in anti-social behaviour.

While investment in more family-sized social rented homes has to be a priority, this will neither entirely solve the problem of overcrowding for many years to come, nor necessarily fulfil the aspirations of social tenants. Other creative solutions are needed, including investment in conversions or extensions of existing social housing to provide larger homes, or in situ improvements to mitigate the impact of overcrowding. Also required is a renewed focus on maximising the use of the existing housing stock, including a better and more attractive offer to underoccupiers to incentivise moves to a smaller home and concerted action to reduce housing tenancy fraud.


Policy 1.3C | 1,250 supported homes will be provided between 2008 and 2011, to meet the needs of older and vulnerable Londoners.

While the planning and revenue funding of supported housing is the responsibility of the boroughs, as is the identification of local needs that provision is required to meet, the Mayor has a key role through his investment powers in enabling these additional homes to be provided. These homes will be delivered through the HCA’s investment programme.

By the end of September 2009, this target had been exceeded, with the HCA having already allocated funding for the delivery of just over 1,900 supported housing units during this investment round32.

Supported homes provide accommodation-based support to vulnerable households. They may be delivered through new build or reprovisioning of existing accommodation.

Policy 1.3D | More accommodation will be provided for Gypsies and Travellers, and existing provision will be improved.

Through his draft London Plan, the Mayor proposes a target for an additional 538 pitches over ten years to meet the needs of Gypsies and Travellers across London. The Mayor will work with all stakeholders to provide guidance on implementing this policy, including sources of pitch provision, social and

other infrastructure, and measures to foster greater social inclusion.

The Mayor will also encourage boroughs to protect existing Gypsy and Traveller pitches and refurbish existing sites where needed, and the HCA will invest at least £6 million in this investment round (2008-11) in the provision and repair of pitches.

London boroughs, with the support of the GLA, have undertaken a Gypsy and Traveller Accommodation Assessment. In the light of this assessment and a strategic view of needs across the region, the Mayor has identified the number of pitches required for each borough.

Policy 1.3E | By 2016, the level of severe overcrowding in social housing should be halved, with 12,000 underoccupiers having moved to a smaller home.

A significant reduction in overcrowding will only be achieved by a multi-pronged approach and the commitments and actions of a range of partners. Section 1.1.2 sets out the Mayor’s aim to increase the proportion of family-sized affordable homes, so that 42 per cent of new social rented and, by 2011, 16 per cent of new intermediate homes provide for families needing three bedrooms or more. In addition, the Mayor has directed investment, through the Targeted Funding Stream, to support the extension of existing homes and the deconversion of flats to create larger homes.

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Many social landlords operate successful schemes that provide attractive opportunities for those tenants who wish to do so to trade down to a smaller home. In addition, the Mayor has agreed with the HCA to invest £10 million in a pilot out-of-London programme – a voluntary scheme that will give opportunities to younger underoccupiers who would like to move to another part of the country. This will build on the popular Seaside and Country Homes scheme, which gives similar opportunities to older underoccupying tenants. An increase in the number of underoccupiers moving to a smaller home could have a significant impact on overcrowding in the sector. In 2008/09, 1,600 social renters that were underoccupying chose to downsize, through either a borough scheme or through Seaside and Country Homes. This policy sets a challenging six year target of 12,000 underoccupier moves, an average of 2,000 each year.

Some boroughs are meeting the wider aspirations of overcrowded households on their transfer lists through providing more creative housing options. These include enabling existing tenants to access more readily available larger private rented homes,

often in preferred locations and of property types that may not be available in the social rented sector. Improving access to private rented homes, linked with employment support, could also provide new opportunities for the adult children of existing tenants – potentially alleviating overcrowding and promoting social mobility.

A London action plan to tackle overcrowding, setting out how the targets will be achieved and monitored, will be published in spring 2010.

Overcrowding is measured here in terms of the bedroom standard. The bedroom standard is based on how many bedrooms a household needs according to the age and sex of its members. Severe overcrowding is defined as being two bedrooms or more below the bedroom standard. The baseline for the overcrowding target is 11,000 households and is from the Survey of English Housing33. Information on the number of underoccupier moves comes from annual returns made by housingmoves and by boroughs to Communities and Local Government (CLG), and by housing associations through CORE34.

Housing tenancy fraud is estimated to have reduced available social housing for allocation in England by nearly 50,000 homes


Across the capital, London boroughs and housing associations work to tackle overcrowding among their tenants using a variety of methods and schemes. Approaches – of which there are some examples below - include adaptations to mitigate the impact of overcrowding, private rented sector alternatives and schemes to attract underoccupiers to downsize.

Westminster City Council has pledged to rehouse 1,000 overcrowded households from its housing waiting list living in overcrowded conditions by 2014. In the first wave, the council aims to rehouse its 44 most severely overcrowded households by March 2010. The families in this category have had their housing chances boosted by being moved into the top band of the borough’s choice based lettings system. This increases the likelihood of them bidding successfully for a new appropriately sized home.

A number of boroughs are making use of the private rented sector as a more immediate solution to overcrowding, given that very large social rented homes rarely become available. Through the Breathing Space scheme, Kingston upon Thames leases homes from the private sector to provide overcrowded tenants with the option of moving temporarily, albeit for a number of years, into somewhere larger. While living in their larger home, the families retain their place on the housing waiting list and can continue to bid for a social rented home through

the borough’s choice based lettings scheme. The scheme has, in line with its target, alleviated overcrowding for 45 households since it was set up in 2007. A similar leasing scheme operates in Havering, particularly aimed at concealed households, such as adult children living with parents – since December 2008, 103 households have been rehoused in this way.

Recognising that many family-sized social homes are underoccupied by households who no longer need and want so much space, most social

Case studies | Tackling overcrowding in social rented homes

Case studies | Tackling overcrowding in social rented homes

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landlords operate schemes aimed at freeing up these homes for overcrowded families. The success of these schemes often depends on the quality of the alternatives offered, the support given to those moving and, in some cases, financial incentives. The two Perfect Fit schemes in south east and south west London are partnerships of housing associations in each sub-region. These make available desirable one and two bedroom properties specifically for tenants of larger homes who want somewhere smaller. Larger homes released by the schemes are offered to overcrowded tenants, whose home, when vacated, is used to meet the needs of someone on the housing waiting list. The south east London scheme, which has been operating since 2007, has so far released 75 larger homes.

To address some underoccupying tenants’ concerns about moving to property of a lower standard than their current home, the Your Move pilot in west London offered homes that had undergone good quality refurbishment. The pilot, which was funded through the Mayor’s Targeted Funding Stream and ran from November 2008 to March 2009, provided underoccupiers with redecorated and improved homes, with new bathrooms and kitchens. There were 25 moves during the pilot, releasing three, four and five bedroom homes for overcrowded families. Following the success of the pilot, the Your Move scheme is continuing and now has further homes in the pipeline.

The Seaside and Country Homes scheme offers opportunities to move out of London. Run by housingmoves, the scheme provides social rented homes in coastal and rural areas across the country to London’s older social tenants, particularly underoccupiers. In 2008/9, 220 households moved through this popular scheme, which has a waiting list of 1,120 households.


Policy 1.3F | Unauthorised occupancy in the social rented sector should be addressed.

The Mayor encourages all of London’s social landlords to participate in the national initiative announced in July 2009, as well as the Audit Commission’s National Fraud Initiative and unlawful subletting exercise to highlight potential cases of tenancy fraud35.

1.3.3 Promoting opportunitiesSocial housing provides a secure platform of stability and affordability from which individuals and families should be able to improve their lives and prosperity. Recently the social sector has become increasingly characterised by lower levels of employment and associated social problems. The needs-led allocation of social housing and scarcity of lettings have, in London, limited new entrants to social housing to the neediest. This has resulted in a disproportionate number of social tenants with characteristics that are likely to disadvantage them in the labour market, and growing concentrations of poorer households.

There are also restricted opportunities for most existing and prospective social tenants to access homes outside their borough. With choice constrained by administrative boundaries, it is extremely difficult for those who need to move to a new area for family reasons or to take up employment opportunities to do so. In addition, with housing supply and housing need unevenly matched across the capital, the lack of mobility opportunities prevents those in housing need in high demand areas from benefitting from

the new homes being built in those areas with greater capacity.

Enhancing choice should also include meeting the needs of and extending the opportunities for disabled people, who can often be excluded from choice based lettings schemes and other measures to promote choice and participation. Better identification and categorisation of homes that can meet the needs of disabled social home seekers, combined with better advice and support, is essential to ensure disabled people can make informed decisions about their housing.

Policy 1.3G | The social rented sector should become more economically diverse, with a reduction in worklessness among tenants.

Through his draft London Plan, the Mayor is promoting communities that are mixed and balanced by tenure and household income, and is working with the HCA to contribute to fulfilling this aim.

The Mayor plays a vital role in tackling worklessness through the London Skills and Employment Board (LSEB), which he chairs, the LDA, his agency responsible for driving London’s sustainable economic growth, and his draft Economic Development Strategy. The LDA has invested in a £12 million programme to help workless parents into jobs through flexible help, which includes improving the affordability of childcare. It will also continue to work with the HCA, Department for

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Work and Pensions, boroughs and others to optimise community and household economic well-being and access to the labour market for households living in the social rented sector. In addition, the Mayor is proposing through his draft Economic Development Strategy to work with the LSEB and other partners to significantly improve training and employability support, with a particular focus on neighbourhoods with high concentrations of worklessness36.

Many social landlords are playing a powerful role in this area, through offering personalised support services to their tenants and prospective tenants to overcome barriers to employment (see case study on page 34). Providing such services will, over time, increase the proportion of economically active households within the social rented sector.

The LSEB has statutory responsibility for setting the strategic direction for the Learning and Skills Council’s investment of around £600 million each year in adult skills, and its strategy is the guiding light for London’s skills and employment agencies.

Policy 1.3H | A proportion of new social rented homes earmarked for sub-regional mobility will be made available on a pan-London basis from the next investment round. Opportunities for pan-London access to relets of existing social rented homes, and for ways of linking work and training with mobility, will be explored with the boroughs and other key partners.

HCA investment in new social rented homes is generally made on a sub-regional basis, so that on any given scheme nominations are shared out between the boroughs in the sub-region. From the next investment round, these arrangements will be amended, to make a proportion of the sub-regional nominations available to tenants and applicants from across the capital. As with the current sub-regional arrangement, this will apply to both initial lettings and subsequent relets. In addition, the Mayor will work closely with the boroughs and other partners to ensure that not only new supply but also the relets of existing social rented homes are available for pan-London mobility.

Mechanisms will be developed in partnership with the boroughs and other stakeholders so that Londoners can easily access these new opportunities for moves across borough and sub-regional boundaries. Given that a household move provides an ideal intervention

27 per cent of housing association transfers are across borough boundaries, with households that are working more common among inter-borough movers than those moving within the borough


The Housing Employment Connections Service (HECS) was launched by Home Connections in November 2008 to give information, advice and guidance on employment and training to existing and potential social tenants going through the choice based lettings (CBL) process.

Home seekers logging into participating CBL systems are offered information on benefits, signposting to local sources of help to find training and employment and the opportunity to search for entry-level job vacancies alongside housing options. Local authority and housing association landlords can tailor the information available to their home seekers to ensure it is local, up to date and relevant. The system, which can be plugged into any CBL or housing management service, also allows social landlords to monitor the level of interest in services and identify users who would like help to move into work.

The system uses talking heads, questionnaires, online referrals and tailored information to maximise uptake. In its first six months of

operation, over 3,500 social housing applicants requested help with jobs and training across the initial participating landlords - four London boroughs and the Peabody Trust. Since its launch, HECs has expanded to a further three London boroughs.

Case study | Housing Employment Connections Service, Home Connections

In 2007/08, only 46 per cent of wheelchair users moving into a housing association home were allocated a wheelchair accessible property, while 68 per cent of lettings of wheelchair accessible homes were to households with no wheelchair user

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point, these mechanisms must link closely with the provision of employment services, information, advice and guidance, for example through the Housing Employment Connections Service. The Mayor will work with social landlords to seek ways of prioritising mobility moves for people in employment or training.

The London NAHP Prospectus 2008-11 sets out the requirement for all bids for new social rented homes to be subject to sub-regional or pan-London nominations. These homes are currently apportioned to boroughs within each sub-region in line with the 2004 Sub-Regional Housing Allocations and Lettings in London Protocol and the individual protocols developed by each of the five sub-regions37.

Policy 1.3I | Disabled people should be able to participate in choice based lettings schemes on an equal basis to other social housing applicants.

Key to achieving this aim is the implementation of the London Accessible Housing Register (AHR) by social landlords. The Mayor is supporting the Londonwide roll out of the AHR, which is being led by a team hosted at RB Kensington and Chelsea. The

project is accountable to a board comprising RB Kensington and Chelsea, the GLA and CLG.

The AHR will deliver high quality information to disabled people through providing standard categories of accessibility for all affordable homes, primarily through choice based lettings schemes. It also offers the potential to ensure accessible and adapted housing is more effectively used and planned for.

Policy 1.3J | Tenants should receive timely and appropriate information and support on their housing options.

Social landlords will continue to play a vital role in increasing the opportunities and support available to their existing and prospective tenants, recognising that tenants’ circumstances and aspirations may change over time. Regular advice, information and support, as well as the provision of an attractive range of options, will ensure that tenants remain fully informed and are enabled to make positive decisions about their housing options. This range of options may include low cost home ownership, the private rented sector and equity shares, to enable tenure mobility.

Almost two thirds of all workless households in London live in social housing, and almost half of all working age households in social rented homes are not in employment


VisionTo promote a vibrant and attractive private rented sector to support London’s economic vitality.

The private rented sector provides a vital and often relatively affordable housing option for Londoners, and is the first choice for most of the thousands of people who move to the capital every year. It plays a crucial role in sustaining the dynamism of the capital’s economy, responding to the demands of a changing, flexible and mobile labour market. It also provides homes for a diverse range of people, including young professionals, students, economic migrants and people in housing need38.

London’s private rented sector has seen a resurgence over the last 15 years. It now accommodates one in five London households, and over half of the households in London that move home each year move into privately rented accommodation39. This is, in large part, due to the sector’s flexibility compared with owner occupation and social renting. It is also usually more affordable than buying a home.

The rapid growth of the sector has in no small part been due to the activity of buy-to-let investors. In 2006, an estimated two thirds of all newly built homes were bought by investors, most of which were small-scale40. The expansion of the buy-to-let market has been welcome in as much as it has increased the much-needed supply of rental homes, most of which are good quality and well managed. However, current market conditions have seen a significant reduction in buy-to-let investment, suggesting

that the recent growth in the sector will be on hold, at least in the short term. The involvement of institutional investors in residential development would bring in new sources of finance, and a requirement for homes to be built to a higher quality and managed more professionally.

The Mayor aims to enhance the significant contribution the private rented sector makes to meeting the needs and aspirations of Londoners. This aim will be delivered through increasing the supply of private rented homes and improving the conditions and management within, and access to, the sector. In addition, he intends to undertake a London-specific assessment of the sector to establish the particular opportunities and challenges that exist in the capital.

1.4.1 Providing more private rented homesIn the current period of housing market uncertainty, demand for private rented homes is strong and strengthening, as uncertain house prices and limited mortgage availability cause more people to delay buying a home. There is also significant potential demand from those who may have in the past limited their aspirations and choice to the social sector, such as those who are overcrowded or who are homeless in temporary accommodation or hostels.

New ways of meeting this demand need to be found, particularly in the context of the collapse of buy-to-let investment. Greater institutional investment could play a significant role, not only by providing much-needed supply but also by bringing more professional and consistent

1.4 Improving the private rented sector

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management, greater stability, higher quality standards and, potentially, longer term rental periods. This in turn is likely to improve the image of the sector and increase its appeal to an even broader range of potential tenants.

Policy 1.4A | More institutional investment in private renting will be promoted.

The HCA launched its national Private Rented Sector Initiative (PRSI) in May 2009. This aims in the medium term to bring new private investors into the residential housing market. In London, this will be overseen by the HCA’s London Board, chaired by the Mayor. The initiative has invited investors, such as pension funds and insurance companies, to submit expressions of interest setting out how they could work with the HCA to develop a long term funding model for new private rented housing. See Section 3.1 for details of the Mayor’s plans to attract institutional investment across all tenures.

The HCA has set out the aims of the PRSI as increasing the choice and quality of private rental options, attracting more long term investors and new sources of funding to housing development and improving scheme viability of housebuilding projects. To achieve these aims the HCA is considering a range of options to support investment in the private rented sector.

1.4.2 Improving quality and accessMuch of the private sector provides well-managed, good quality accommodation.

However, sub-standard properties and inadequate management remain unwelcome features of a small part of the sector, particularly at the lower end. Poor quality private rented sector housing can have serious consequences for both the health and well-being, and the safety and security, of individuals and communities. The challenge is to ensure uniformly high levels of quality and management across the sector and across the capital.

It is also important that prospective tenants in London are fully informed about rent levels in the capital to maximise their choice and housing options. Though private renting can often be more affordable than buying, rents are still prohibitively high for many Londoners in some parts of the capital. For a city with a highly mobile population, it is essential that those seeking a home in this sector have the information to be able to make informed choices appropriate to their requirements and resources.

The private rented sector houses a diverse range of Londoners, including vulnerable and homeless people. As part of a range of options the sector can respond to the requirements of these groups, by both offering more choice and quicker access than other housing tenures and lessening the increasingly unrealistic demands made on the social rented sector. With the right level of support and safeguards, these features can make private renting a desirable housing option. Because of the chronic shortage, social housing cannot provide for all - and should not therefore be seen as the automatic route to a home for all people in housing need.


Policy 1.4B | The quality of private rented sector homes and landlords will improve, including at least a doubling of the number of accredited landlords by the end of 2011.

London’s boroughs lead efforts to tackle poor standards and are responsible for taking action where standards fall below those set out by legislation. Enforcing and implementing legislation (for example, HMO licensing and the Housing Health and Safety Rating System), as well as promoting landlord accreditation, is a demanding and resource intensive challenge for the boroughs. Many provide an exemplary service, and it is important that the good practice of some boroughs becomes common practice for all, right across the capital. Schemes such as the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme are essential and it is important they are used across London. In addition, the promotion of institutional investment as set out in LHS Policy 1.4A, is also likely to drive up management standards and improve quality in the sector.

The Mayor will undertake a London-specific assessment of the private sector, building on the national review undertaken in 2008. This work will identify London’s private rented sub-markets, and enable better targeting of resources to drive improvements in the worst parts of the sector.

The London Landlord Accreditation Scheme, developed by boroughs, focuses on improving the quality of landlords’ management, providing them with information, training and professional development in order that they provide their tenants with a good standard of management, and safe, environmentally sustainable and high quality accommodation.

Policy 1.4C | Better information on rent levels will be available to those seeking a home in the private rented sector.

The Mayor’s London Rents Map, launched in October 2008, is providing prospective tenants with accurate information on rent levels for privately rented homes. This is enabling more informed decision-making, while potentially raising standards and leading to more competitive rents.

The London Rents Map serves a dual function, allowing users to view average London rents by postcode and size, and providing useful information on the private rented sector for tenants and landlords. This includes information on tenancy agreements and statutory schemes to protect deposits, and also links to a number of key organisations and initiatives, such as the London Landlord Accreditation Scheme, Shelter, Citizens Advice and the National Landlord Association.

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Policy 1.4D | The private rented sector will play a key role in housing homeless and vulnerable households, where it provides high quality housing management and reasonable security of tenure and where support is available where needed.

Boroughs and service providers will continue to provide and enhance access schemes to help homeless people, ex-offenders and other vulnerable people, such as care leavers and adults with learning disabilities or mental ill health, to find and sustain homes in the private rented sector.

Such schemes can offer settled housing, through careful assessment of needs and properties and by offering support that is tailored to the individual and is not inextricably linked to tenure. Investing in such schemes meets needs, is an efficient use of resources and plays a vital role in tackling wider social problems, for example, by preventing rough sleeping. London Probation will develop with boroughs cross-authority accommodation support services that reduce the risk of harm caused by offenders by helping them to sustain stable tenancies, predominantly in the private rented sector.

The use of the private rented sector for households in need requires a culture change in terms of housing options and expectations,

both for individuals and, in some cases, their advisers and support workers. In addition, careful attention needs to be paid to avoiding the risk that, as in some areas of social housing, parts of the private rented sector become concentrated with economically inactive households or those with the highest needs.

High quality housing management can be expected where landlords are accredited or where private sector access schemes set clear standards for properties and the services offered to landlords and tenants. Reasonable security of tenure can be ensured by negotiating tenancies that are longer than minimum assured shorthold tenancies. For some more vulnerable people, either short term or ongoing support is key to ensuring that tenancies are sustained and successful.

45 per cent of all privately rented homes are non-decent, compared with 35 per cent of homes across all tenures


Crisis has been working for 12 years to help make the private rented sector (PRS) a viable and sustainable housing option for homeless and insecurely housed people. Building on its experience of PRS access schemes, such as deposit schemes and local lettings agencies, Crisis has established an advisory service to support local authorities and voluntary sector agencies throughout the UK in developing PRS access services of their own.

It has also produced a set of key principles that set out the strategic and operational

elements necessary to deliver successful PRS access schemes41. These reflect good practice and take account of the needs and aspirations of both landlords and tenants. The principles provide a set of minimum standards that can be used for the 200 existing PRS access schemes in the UK, and new ones being developed. A self-assessment tool, which accompanies the principles, assists local authorities and other service providers to assess whether their schemes provide the necessary elements for a well-run and inclusive scheme.

Case study | Setting standards for private rented sector access schemes, Crisis

2 Improving homes, transforming neighbourhoods

2.1 Designing better homesTo promote high quality design in 21st century homes that will match London’s rich architectural heritage.

2.2 Producing greener homesTo deliver higher environmental standards for all London’s homes and neighbourhoods – in the new homes we build, our existing homes and the areas that surround them.

2.3 Revitalising homes and communitiesTo promote successful, strong and mixed communities in which people are proud to live. To deliver and maintain a reduction in the number of long term empty and derelict buildings – transforming these into homes for Londoners.

VisionTo promote high quality design in 21st century homes that will match London’s rich architectural heritage.

Increasing the supply of housing in London must go hand in hand with an improvement in the design and quality of the homes that are built. High quality homes and neighbourhoods can make a significant contribution to the preservation of London’s distinctive and diverse character and its unique heritage. Homes must be well designed, safe, sustainable and attractive. They must provide the accessibility, adaptability and flexibility required for 21st century living, meet the needs of London’s diverse population, address the challenges of climate change and help to sustain thriving neighbourhoods.

There are many examples of well-designed and innovative housing schemes in London, but there are also many that are shamefully poor. Fewer than a fifth of the housing developments in London completed between 2004 and 2007 have been assessed as ‘good or very good’ against CABE’s Building for Life Standard42. New homes in the UK are also some of the smallest in Europe43. Many do not provide enough space for storage, for children to play safely or to allow for the range of activities carried out in the home44.

There are specific factors about cities in general and London in particular that make good design particularly important. Constrained capacity for housing and projected growth in the population make higher density a necessity and mean that new development should optimise housing output, taking into account local context and public transport capacity45. This creates design challenges in terms of, for example, outdoor amenity space, privacy, noise and light, safety and communal space. London poses particular challenges in terms of its diverse population, high child densities and high levels of occupancy in social housing. Design is not the only ingredient of good higher density housing - allocations, social mix, tenure and management are other crucial issues - but higher density housing will not work without world class design in new housing developments.

The planned scale of housebuilding over the coming years creates new challenges for architects, but it also brings unique opportunities to develop new housing that will be cherished as attractive, spacious, accessible, safe and green. In order to set a new benchmark for the design and quality for 21st century homes, create a distinctive and high quality architecture for London and lead the way on improving national standards, the Mayor has developed a draft Housing Design Guide46 for London.

2.1 Designing better homes

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2.1.1 Improving design qualityLondon’s new residential developments are necessarily denser than those in the rest of the country. The needs of London’s households, including families, have to be accommodated at these higher densities, which requires innovative design and management solutions.

New minimum space standards and homes that are adaptable to change as new occupants move in, families grow and occupants age or experience ill health, lie at the heart of London’s new design standards for housing. Good space standards are particularly important in higher density housing and in affordable rented housing, which is generally occupied to maximum occupancy. Other issues that need to be addressed particularly in London include accessibility and adaptability, privacy, safety and security, daylighting, access to open space, play space, car use and climate change adaptation and mitigation and design that takes into account the long term management requirement of blocks and estates.

An increase of around 200,000 older people is expected in London by 2025. Disabled people are more than twice as likely to be living in unsuitable housing as other Londoners47. New affordable and market homes therefore need to be built to be accessible and adaptable to meet changing circumstances over a lifetime, on developments that are attractive to, and safe for, older and disabled Londoners48.

The need to improve design quality is as pressing in the market sector as it is for affordable housing. Market housing is too often built to lower standards than public sector housing. Mixed tenure developments should deliver housing that is tenure blind, with all homes in a development built to the same standard.

More attention must also be paid to the quality of the urban realm. The design of new developments should enhance the quality of local places49. Safety and security must also be key considerations, in terms of addressing both crime and anti-social behaviour, and fire safety, particularly in communal areas of blocks of flats50.

Achieving design excellence is not simply about applying a set of design standards. It is about having a design team that is capable of sharing its knowledge and experience, resolving different interests and having a shared commitment to a successful outcome. The success of a development will also be dependent on ongoing management and the provision of local services and these therefore need to be considered as early as possible in the design process, involving the landlord who will be responsible for the long term management of the scheme. Too often the quality of schemes becomes compromised as issues of procurement take over.

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Policy 2.1A | All new homes will be built to higher design standards.

The Mayor will work with the HCA, London boroughs and other partners to use the standards in the London Housing Design Guide to prioritise investment in affordable housing.

The Mayor and HCA are working to align the emerging corporate design standards of the HCA with those in the London Housing Design Guide. It is the Mayor’s intention to provide a level playing field by taking forward improvements to standards across all tenures through policies proposed in the draft London Plan. These would then become a material consideration in planning decisions for market, as well as affordable, housing, once the new London Plan takes effect in 2012.

The standards in the London Housing Design Guide will be adopted for schemes developed on LDA land as soon as the final version of the Guide is published, in spring 2010. They will be applied to all new affordable housing developed with public sector investment from April 2011, through their adoption by the HCA London Board, and the new London Plan will set the basis for standards across all tenures from 2012, subject to its Examination in Public.

Policy 2.1B | New housing developments will meet the needs of older and disabled people by achieving the highest standards of accessibility and inclusion, with all homes built to Lifetime Homes standards and at least ten per cent designed to be wheelchair accessible.

The draft London Plan proposes a requirement for all new homes in London to be built to Lifetime Homes standards and at least ten per cent to be wheelchair accessible or easily adaptable for residents who are wheelchair users.

This is an explicit funding requirement for all new homes in London developed with public investment. Lifetime Homes standards have been fully integrated into the requirements of the draft London Housing Design Guide, which will make it easier for developers to implement the standards. Guidance on implementing the requirements for wheelchair accessible, or easily wheelchair adaptable, homes is set out in the GLA’s Best Practice Guidance on Wheelchair Accessible Housing51.

Progress is being made towards the target, with seven per cent of homes for which the HCA allocated funding between April 2008 and September 2009 being wheelchair accessible52.


The draft Mayor’s London Housing Design Guide The guide brings together and clarifies the required standards for new housing, including existing and proposed London Plan policies, the government’s Code for Sustainable Homes requirements and HCA standards. The Guide provides more certainty to the development process and cuts the number of codes and amount of guidance to which developers need to refer. It also sets minimum standards in a number of key areas, in response to the particular challenges of developing high quality housing to meet the diverse range of needs in London.

The key areas covered in the draft Guide are:

Shaping good places Developments should integrate with the wider public realm network, providing opportunities for access to open and green space and playspace, and enhancing the character of an area.

Housing in a diverse city A mix of housing sizes, types and tenures at a range of densities are needed to respond to Londoners’ diverse needs.

Arrival - from the street to the front door Minimum requirements are set for the design of entrances and shared circulation areas, as well as fire safety, lighting, car parking, cycle storage and waste so that communal areas are safe and secure and welcoming, accessible for

all and contribute to a sense of ownership and belonging.

Space and layout of the home New minimum internal space standards (which approximate to Parker Morris plus ten per cent) are set out, along with further requirements and guidance on the size and layout of different rooms to ensure greater flexibility and adaptability of the home, and minimum sizes for storage and private amenity space such as balconies, terraces and gardens.

Home as a place of retreat The hustle and bustle of city living can have a negative impact on the quality of life within the home, particularly in high-density developments. Overlooking, privacy, noise, and the relationship between floor-to-ceiling heights, daylight and sunlight and cross-ventilation all underscore the importance of dual aspect development.

Climate change mitigation and adaptation Ensuring homes are suitable for warmer summers and wetter winters, as well as limiting the extent of future change, are key priorities for London. The draft Guide clarifies the London approach to implementation of the Code for Sustainable Homes in the context of the London Plan, and emphasises the principles of adaptation.

In London 45 per cent of households live in flats, and the number is growing, whereas in England overall 83 per cent of households live in houses

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2.1.2 Improving the design processMuch of the best designed affordable housing is developed directly by housing associations, building on their experience of managing affordable homes. However, up to two thirds of affordable housing over recent years has been delivered with some Section 106 contribution53. In too many of these new Section 106 developments, where developers work with housing associations to deliver the affordable housing, the housing association’s expertise in design and management is not built into the design process at an early enough stage54. This is likely to have contributed to the development of many poor-quality and hard to manage homes in the affordable sector. As a result of the downturn in the housing market, developers are likely to be working more closely with housing associations, which may provide opportunities for housing associations to drive higher standards of design.

Policy 2.1C | Affordable housing providers will play a greater role in the design of affordable housing.

The draft London Housing Design Guide provides guidance on embedding good design throughout the development process, from the initial preparation of the brief to procurement and delivery. The design process can also be strengthened by involving

housing associations and other affordable housing providers at the earliest possible stage and increasing the importance given to high-quality design in the HCA investment decision-making process. This would involve identification of a housing association partner at the pre-planning stage which can then work with the developer from the outset of the design process.

This will be taken forward through Section 106 negotiations and through the HCA’s investment processes, including the Single Conversation.

Policy 2.1D | Design champions will be appointed by public sector agencies.

In line with CABE’s proposal, boroughs and housing associations should identify a design champion who can provide strong client leadership throughout each development project55. Design champions play an important role in demonstrating to colleagues, in public sector organisations and the wider community, the benefits of a high quality built environment. Design champions need to be given a high-profile role to ensure that the value of good design is being promoted throughout the organisation.


Angel Waterside is a new housing development, built on a brownfield site adjoining the City Road Basin in Islington. The scheme, which provides 85 affordable and market homes in a mix of bedsizes, was designed by the architects – Pollard, Thomas and Edwards – to take full advantage of its location. Although designed and built before the publication of the draft London Housing Design Guide, it meets many of the key standards set out in the Guide and was described by one of the judges when it received a recent Housing Design Award as ‘like the Mayor’s design guide in action’.

The development has four separate cores, each with its own lift and street entrance, providing a high level of security, privacy and ownership of the communal areas for its residents. Most of the homes are dual aspect, with good-sized private balconies or roof terraces, many looking out onto a canal. The affordable housing includes family-sized maisonettes on the ground floor, with front terraces overlooking a new public park adjacent to the City Road Basin waterside, linked to the street by two public access pedestrian routes. The scheme has high eco-standards and all homes meet Lifetime Homes standards.

Case study | Angel Waterside, City Wharf Development Company and Islington and Shoreditch Housing Association

VisionTo deliver higher environmental standards for all London’s homes and neighbourhoods – in the new homes we build, our existing homes and the areas that surround them.

The Mayor’s vision is that London should become a world leader in improving the environment locally and globally, taking the lead in tackling climate change, reducing pollution, developing a low carbon economy and consuming few resources and using them more effectively56. The Mayor has also adopted a more ambitious carbon reduction target than the government, seeking a 60 per cent reduction by 2025 but acknowledging that achieving this is dependent on additional action by central government57 58. Achieving this vision is a cross-cutting theme across all the Mayor’s draft statutory strategies: the draft London Plan, draft Economic Development Strategy and draft Transport Strategy. Consequently, many of his funding programmes and initiatives will contribute to the delivery of the policy objectives across a number of his strategies.

London’s 3.2 million homes account for 38 per cent of London’s total carbon emissions

(excluding aviation) through the energy they consume and, too often, waste59. Without intervention this will increase rapidly, driven by the growth in the number of homes and increases in energy and water consuming household goods. As well as being London’s largest single carbon emitting sector, its housing stock is also exposed to the impacts of inevitable climate change – the increased risk of flooding, water scarcity and overheating. But there are related challenges that need to be addressed. Almost a quarter of London’s households are living in fuel poverty and, if energy prices and consumption continue to rise, this number is likely to increase60.

With a large-scale new build programme and a largely older and flatted stock of existing homes, London faces particular challenges in reducing its carbon emissions. Solutions lie in taking action on how new homes are designed, built and managed, retrofitting existing homes, tackling fuel poverty and promoting a greener city. Behavioural change linked to an increased awareness of the impact of climate change, and the measures that need to be taken to address it, is also key to achieving the Mayor’s ambitious targets.

2.2 Producing greener homes

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Policy 2.2A | Investment in new and existing homes will contribute to reducing London’s carbon emissions by at least 60 per cent by 2025.

The Mayor requires all new housing to contribute towards meeting the targets for carbon emissions reduction proposed in the draft London Plan. The Plan also contains policies to reduce the impact of the urban heat island effect in London and to avoid overheating in new homes.

The HCA is investing resources from the regional housing pot to contribute to the reduction in London’s carbon emissions. In addition, the Mayor is investing through the Targeted Funding Stream in housing developments that demonstrate an exemplary approach to energy efficiency and tackling climate change, help develop supply chains and new technologies, and share good practice. The Targeted Funded Stream is also supporting social landlords with schemes to improve existing homes to beyond the Decent Homes standard, with a particular focus on measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

The Mayor’s draft Climate Change Adaptation, draft Water, draft Municipal Waste Management, draft Air Quality and draft Energy and Climate Change Mitigation Strategies also contain a raft of policies to combat climate change and improve the environmental sustainability of new and existing housing in the capital61. The Mayor will work with partners to meet the

objectives and policies set out in these strategies.

Investment through the initiatives outlined on pages 54 and 55 will also play a vital role in relation to reducing the carbon emissions from existing homes.

2.2.1 Greening new homes New homes can make a significant contribution to delivering the Mayor’s carbon reduction target and to improving the environment. All should be built to make the fullest contribution to the mitigation of and adaptation to climate change, to minimise carbon emissions and to promote better environmental practice. They also need to be located, designed and constructed for the climate they will experience over their lifetime.

Policy 2.2B | New housing developments will meet the highest standards of sustainable design and construction.

Through his draft London Plan the Mayor proposes that all new housing developments should be required to be well designed, meet the highest quality standards for sustainable design and construction, and contribute to meeting the target for reducing carbon emissions. The Plan contains a raft of sustainable design and construction standards that all new housing developments built in the capital are required to meet. The draft London Housing Design Guide sets out the environmental and sustainability standards for all new homes, including

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the use of the Mayor’s energy hierarchy to achieve reductions in carbon emissions, increased water efficiency, managing surface water run off, materials, ecology, pollution and Lifetime Homes.

Policy 2.2C | All new housing developments will provide low carbon and renewable energy generation, provided on site where this is feasible.

The Mayor has set a target to decentralise 25 per cent of the capital’s energy supply by 2025, and new homes must make a contribution towards meeting this target. The draft London Plan proposes that as a minimum all proposals for new developments going through the planning process should evaluate the feasibility of using decentralised energy, such as district heating and cooling and combined heat and power (CHP). Developments should also aim to further reduce carbon emissions through the use of on-site renewable energy technologies.

Wherever possible carbon reduction targets should be achieved through on-site renewable energy technologies. However, where it is clearly demonstrated that this is not possible, any shortfall may be provided off-site through a ‘cash in lieu’ contribution to the relevant borough, to be ringfenced to secure delivery of carbon savings elsewhere.

Policy 2.2D | All new publicly funded homes will meet at least level 3 of the Code for Sustainable Homes, with many schemes reaching higher levels.

Achieving Code for Sustainable Homes (CSH) level 3 is the minimum requirement for all new homes in receipt of public subsidy in the current investment round, 2008-11 and the Mayor has asked the HCA to give priority to developments that will achieve higher CSH levels. Progress so far is encouraging, with 77 per cent of new homes funded by the HCA between April 2008 and September 2009 reaching level 3 of the CSH, and 22 per cent reaching level 462.

From April 2011, the Mayor will require all new publicly funded homes to meet the environmental and sustainability standards set out in his draft London Housing Design Guide. This will include all homes meeting at least level 4 of the CSH.

The government’s CSH uses a 1 to 6 rating system, with homes meeting level 6 being zero carbon and displaying very high levels of sustainability in other aspects, including water efficiency. Since May 2008 it has been mandatory for all new homes to be issued with a rating. From 2010 the government will expect all new homes – affordable and market - to meet the energy and water efficiency requirements of level 3.


Family Mosaic’s recently completed York Terrace development in Greenwich is the first new housing scheme in London to be delivered to level 5 of the Code for Sustainable Homes.

The development, which comprises seven four bedroom houses for social rent, promotes sustainable living and includes many eco-features to reduce its carbon footprint, improve energy and water efficiency and reduce fuel bills. These include an enhanced building fabric, ambitious air leakage targets, a Structural Insulated Panel System, rainwater harvesting, photovoltaics, solar water heating, triple glazed windows, whole house ventilation and a heat recovery system. Energy generated by photovoltaic roof tiles is linked to a meter in the living room so that residents can monitor the energy generated and energy used within

their home. All surplus energy is directed back to the National Grid.

Funding was provided from HCA grant, with the Mayor’s Targeted Funding Scheme Innovation and Opportunity Fund funding the additional green features that elevated the scheme from a Code Level 3 to a Code Level 5. The Mayor visited York Terrace in January 2010, to look at the scheme’s exemplary design and sustainability features and meet some of the families now living there.

Case study | York Terrace, Gallons Close, Family Mosaic

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2.2.2 Greening existing homesThe homes that are with us today will represent roughly two thirds of the homes that will still be with us in 2050, with new homes accounting for less than one per cent of the housing stock in any given year. The Mayor’s vision cannot therefore be met without a major programme of retrofitting the existing stock. Retrofitting is equally important for ensuring that homes are able to cope with future climate challenges. In current housing market conditions, there is also a particularly strong case for increasing spending on energy efficiency retrofit measures as a way of creating jobs and supporting London’s construction industry.

London’s existing homes pose particular retrofitting challenges. There is a higher proportion of ‘hard to treat’ homes in the capital than in other regions, principally because of the higher proportion of flats and houses in London with solid walls63 which are both more costly and technically more difficult to insulate. At the present rate, existing carbon reduction funding programmes will only have sufficiently treated an estimated half a million of the 3.1 million homes in London by 201264.

It is anticipated that 92 per cent of local authority homes in London will have been improved by 2010 when the Decent Homes programme draws to a close. This programme has made much-needed improvements to the quality of London’s social rented homes. It is important that the government’s review of housing finance enables London boroughs and housing association to maintain these homes to good standards beyond 2010 and to improve

their environmental performance – an area not sufficiently addressed by the existing Decent Homes standard.

A significant number of homes in the private sector are very energy inefficient, particularly those in the private rented sector and those occupied by vulnerable households. Residents often lack awareness of how to improve the environmental performance of their home – even simple and cheap energy efficient measures – or of the many schemes available to assist them. Londoners need support to help them arrange environmental audits, and a follow-up package including advice on improving environmental performance, the financial assistance available and installation of energy efficiency measures.

Policy 2.2E | Social rented homes will be improved so that they are more than ‘decent’, with environmental standards a priority for any enhancement to the Decent Homes standard.

The Mayor will work with London’s public sector landlords and other partners to ensure that they are able to achieve the Decent Homes standard and maintain their homes to this standard after the current programme comes to an end. He will also work with boroughs and other partners to identify enhancements to the current standard, in particular to improve the environmental performance of existing homes. He will make the case for funding, both for achieving and maintaining the current Decent Homes standard now and in the future, and for improving homes to a new enhanced standard.


National, regional and sub-regional initiatives to green homes

The Warm Front scheme, funded by government, provides a package of insulation and heating improvements to people on low incomes. One of the main aims of this scheme is to tackle fuel poverty.

The Carbon Emissions Reduction Target (CERT) is a domestic sector scheme, which places energy suppliers under an obligation to achieve ambitious carbon reduction targets. These are met mainly through the installation of simple energy efficiency measures such as loft and cavity wall insulation and high efficiency lighting and appliances. The government announced in September 2009 its plans to boost the scheme by increasing the lifetime carbon saving target on household energy suppliers by 20 per cent and is proposing to extend CERT, which is due to end in March 2011, to December 201265. However, because of the higher proportion of hard to treat homes in the capital than in other regions, the higher delivery costs for suppliers in London and the absence of regional delivery targets for suppliers, London up until now has not received its fair share of resources from this programme.

The Community Energy Savings Programme (CESP) is a recently launched area-based ‘whole house’ programme focusing on areas of deprivation, also being delivered through a carbon reduction obligation on energy suppliers.

Pay As You Save (PAYS) is a new government pilot scheme due to start in 2010 whereby households will use savings on energy bills to pay for the upfront costs of installing energy efficiency measures.

The HCA’s Social Housing Energy Savings Programme is a two-year programme for Registered Social Landlords, which funds cavity wall and loft insulation programmes in harder to treat properties. London was successful in obtaining funding of £76.9 million out of the total programme of £84 million – because of the much higher proportion of hard to treat flats in the capital.

London’s sub-regions are delivering a number of retrofit schemes. Warm Zones, Coldbusters and Warmth and Comfort are funded from a range of sources, including the Targeted Funding Stream, CERT and CESP funding and deliver not only environmental improvements but also help to tackle fuel poverty by providing advice on behavioural change and income maximisation.

The forthcoming London Homes Energy Efficiency Programme (HEEP), being developed by the Mayor, the LDA, London Councils and the London boroughs, is building on existing programmes and developing deliv-ery mechanisms that will attract greater levels of public and private funding into London, through programmes such as CERT and Warm Front. HEEP will offer a package of easy measures and energy efficiency advice in the first instance, with loft and cavity wall insulation where appropriate, and move on to harder measures, such as solid wall insulation, as more funding becomes available. This area-based, cross-tenure programme aims to deliver simple retrofit measures to 1.2 million homes by 2015, with savings of over 400,000 tonnes of CO2

each year once completed.

In September 2009, the Mayor launched ten pilot Low Carbon Zones66. Funding of up to £400,000 has been awarded to each winning

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zone. These will showcase new and existing technologies and will use a joined-up approach to tackling carbon emissions in a sustainable way. Thirteen thousand homes will be retrofitted with a range of measures including home insulation, smart meters, decentralised energy plants, renewable energy sources and state of the art facilities to use waste as a clean fuel source.

One hundred million pounds of green funding is provided by the Joint European Support for Sustainable Investment in City Areas (JESSICA) to finance decentralised energy, recycling and waste energy creation projects in London. This investment is made up of £50 million from the European Regional Development Fund, £32 million from the LDA and £18 million from the London Waste Recycling Board. The environmental infrastructure provided through JESSICA will provide opportunities for improving the environmental performance of London’s new and existing homes.

Home improvement agencies are local, not-for-profit organisations dedicated to helping older people, disabled people and vulnerable people to live in safety and with dignity in their own homes. All but three London boroughs have home improvement agencies, the majority operated in-house. The services provided include housing and benefits advice, support with energy efficiency measures, practical help such as handyperson services, and the co-ordination of repairs and aids and adaptations. The government has committed to directly funding handyperson schemes until 2011, and these are now provided in most London boroughs67.

Policy 2.2F | Private homeowners and landlords will be helped to improve the condition of their homes, particularly their environmental performance.

A range of initiatives through which this policy will be achieved are set out on pages 54 and 55 and in LHS Policy 2.2J.

In addition, boroughs, often working in partnership with home improvement agencies, play a key role in providing advice and assistance about how to improve the environmental performance of homes owned or rented in the private sector. For the poorest quality homes, they may use statutory enforcement measures against private sector landlords, including through the Housing Health and Safety Rating System (HHSRS).

Policy 2.2G | Where existing homes are retrofitted and the building fabric allows, a SAP rating of at least 65 should be achieved.

The Mayor will work with the sponsors of the various initiatives set out on pages 54 and 55 to improve the environmental performance of London’s homes and ensure that a minimum SAP rating of 65 is included as a key target for their investment, where appropriate. He will also work to ensure that all homes retrofitted with HCA and other public housing funding meet or exceed this standard.

The Standard Assessment Procedure (SAP) rating is a measure of energy efficiency.


The rating is expressed on a scale of 1-100 where a dwelling with a rating of one has poor energy efficiency (high costs) and a dwelling with a rating of 100 represents a completely energy efficient dwelling (zero net energy costs each year)68. Any property with a SAP rating lower than 35 does not meet the minimum standard under the HHSRS.

2.2.3 Greening the cityWhile the design of new homes and the retrofitting of existing homes will have a key impact on reducing London’s carbon emissions, changing London’s business sector’s and Londoners’ awareness of how they can reduce their own carbon footprint is equally important.

London’s housing organisations have an important role to play in raising awareness and setting exemplary environmental standards. Urban greening measures improve the quality of the environment and London’s ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change. London’s magnificent trees, parks and open spaces are a defining feature of the city, playing a key role in Londoners’ quality of life. Improving existing and developing new green spaces will not only enhance the quality of London’s environment, but also improves the capital’s ability to mitigate and adapt to climate change.

Substantial numbers of Londoners are becoming aware of environmental issues in relation to their home and, as important, the potential link between lower carbon emissions, better insulated homes and reduced fuel bills. However, there is still a pressing need to provide more

information and advice to Londoners about ways in which they can reduce their carbon emissions through changed behaviour. Housing organisations, with their close relationships with residents, have a key role in encouraging them to adopt greener ways of living.

Policy 2.2H | Green housing organisations will be promoted and given priority for housing investment.

The Mayor expects London’s housing organisations to consider how, through their day to day activities, they can become not just greener developers, but also greener landlords and businesses. London’s housing providers should be looking to ingrain environmental sustainability into every aspect of their businesses, and to improve the environmental performance of all of their operations, not just within their property portfolios.

The Mayor will encourage all agencies – the HCA, LDA, London boroughs and other investment partners - to prioritise investment for those housing organisations able to demonstrate their corporate contribution to reducing carbon emissions, improving resource efficiency and delivering urban greening.

An organisation’s green credentials should be assessed using a corporate organisational environmental sustainability framework, such as the Sustainable Homes Index For Tomorrow, which is endorsed by the Mayor, or another recognised framework69.

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Policy 2.2I | Urban greening will be promoted.

The Mayor expects housing developers and public sector landlords to provide attractive and accessible green spaces in which residents can escape from the stresses and strains of high density urban living.

Through proposals in his draft London Plan, the Mayor will require development proposals to integrate green infrastructure from the beginning of the design process to contribute to urban greening, including the public realm (LP Policy 5.10). For existing homes, the Mayor expects public sector landlords to consider the retrofitting of green walls and roofs as appropriate in refurbishment programmes, as well as identifying opportunities to create new or enhance existing green spaces in the public space surrounding their buildings.

Urban greening measures include planting new trees, creating or enhancing the ecological quality and diversity of surrounding parks, open spaces and public realm, and incorporating living roofs and walls into new and existing housing.

57 per cent of homes in London have solid walls compared to 26 per cent in England as a whole

Policy 2.2J | Greener ways of living through changed behaviour need to be promoted.

Public sector landlords have an important role in providing information and educating their residents on how to reduce their carbon footprint through providing training and advice. They should look for opportunities to provide green skills training for staff and residents, for example by appointing environmental champions, by providing residents with energy saving meters and by training frontline staff to become accredited energy advisers70. Advice about behavioural change should be provided as an integral part of all energy efficiency retrofitting programmes.


Metropolitan Housing Trust is delivering a ‘whole house’ refurbishment programme to harder to treat, solid wall Victorian street properties it owns in Haringey, improving these homes to well beyond the existing Decent Homes standard. Improvements include the installation of double glazed windows, floor, wall and loft insulation, and low energy light fittings. In addition, central heating systems have been replaced with combination boilers, individually controlled radiators and room thermostats.

Behavioural change is also key to reducing carbon emissions and fuel bills. A resident

liaison officer supports residents throughout the process, and when retrofitting is complete they are provided with an eco ‘welcome home’ pack and an information guide, so that they can maximise the benefits of the refurbishments.

Over the last four years, over 250 of Metropolitan’s 600 Victorian street properties in Haringey have been improved, resulting in a fall in carbon emissions of around 45 per cent, homes that are warmer and more energy efficient and, as a consequence, a reduction in fuel poverty among residents.

Case study | Neighbourhood investment unit, Metropolitan Housing Trust

VisionTo promote successful, strong and mixed communities in which people are proud to live. To deliver and maintain a reduction in the number of long term empty and derelict buildings – transforming these into homes for Londoners.

London is a diverse city, incorporating some of the most affluent neighbourhoods in the UK, as well as some of the most deprived. While many Londoners have shared in the capital’s economic success and the opportunities this affords, others have not. As a period of economic uncertainty continues, action is needed to ensure that there is a focus on improving areas of deprivation, which usually have concentrations of social rented housing and are often situated cheek by jowl with wealthy areas.

Regeneration is broader than just the refurbishment of homes. It is about transforming under-performing areas. Estate and area decline is the result of complex causes, which are often relatively localised, and such decline usually cannot be reversed by physical regeneration alone. The failure to link physical improvements with wider interventions has too often resulted in regeneration initiatives that do not fully address the causes of decline, and are unsustainable over the long term, improving the bricks and mortar but leaving the communities untouched. These estates and areas are sometimes disconnected from their surroundings and become places that fail to retain or attract residents due to limited housing choice, reducing opportunities for investment in an area and contributing to its decline.

Different regeneration schemes operate in different contexts, with different challenges to overcome and different opportunities to be realised. Some previous regeneration schemes have been all but imposed upon local areas, rather than growing from them, failing to harness the community’s strengths to drive transformation. Further, there are too many examples of regeneration schemes that started with high hopes and significant funding, only to peter out as scarce funds were allocated to other priorities, with a damaging effect on the communities involved.

A second challenge in the revitalisation of communities is bringing empty homes back in to use. There are currently 82,000 empty homes in London, some 2.5 per cent of the total housing stock. Almost 17,000 of these homes are owned by boroughs, housing associations and other public sector bodies, while 66,000 are in the private sector71. While this remains unacceptably high, the number of empty homes in the capital is at its lowest since the 1970s. As a proportion of the housing stock it remains below the national average of 3.1 per cent. However, it will be a significant challenge to maintain the current level of empty homes in a market downturn, and very stretching to reduce it further. During the housing market downturn of the early 1990s, the number of empty homes in London soared, increasing by over 30,000.

2.3.1 Regenerating communities In some instances, where investment opportunities for the private sector are attractive, regeneration of an area can take place without the need for major public sector

2.3 Revitalising homes and communities

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intervention. But in many cases, public sector investment will be vital to enable transformation to take place. Improving the quality of life and opportunities for London’s most deprived communities is as important as building new homes, and must not be overlooked in the face of government housing supply targets, both now and when the market recovers.

Current housing market conditions have had a destabilising effect on many regeneration schemes with most reliant, to varying degrees, on cross-subsidy from the sale of market and intermediate housing. Dramatic falls in the price of new homes have left many regeneration plans with significant gaps in funding. The level of public sector resources made available by government agencies is likely to diminish over future investment rounds, so it is imperative that these resources go towards those regeneration projects that need them most, and which could not happen without intervention.

Aligning investment streams with complementary initiatives where appropriate will enable better overall outcomes to be achieved. In this context, it is imperative to ensure that, once started, estate regeneration schemes do not stall, and are seen through to completion.

Regeneration also provides an opportunity to remodel areas so that they are fit for future lifestyles and demands. Many of the poorest estates and areas are blighted not only by poor quality housing but also by convoluted layouts that are inaccessible, particularly for disabled and older people, and create a fear of crime and spaces for criminal opportunism. Those estates and areas

disconnected from their surroundings need to be reconnected to the neighbourhood around them where there are opportunities for residents to improve the quality of their lives.

Not all regeneration schemes are the same. Local stakeholders and residents are best placed to define what will change a place for the better. Understanding the aspirations of local communities and involving residents and other stakeholders in the delivery of regeneration is an essential and key component in transforming neighbourhoods. Community empowerment is an essential element in creating strong communities that have the confidence, high levels of social cohesion and engagement to jointly tackle issues such as anti-social behaviour, fear of crime and criminal activities.

Policy 2.3A | Funding for physical regeneration will be effectively targeted at those estates and areas most in need of public intervention.

The Mayor will expect bids for public sector investment to make the case for regeneration by providing an assessment at a local level of the scale and nature of housing need and aspirations within a proposed estate or area, together with an analysis of the potential to transform the neighbourhood without the injection of public resources. This should include:

• Baseline information – identifying what would happen in the area without regeneration, what the current investment

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needs are for refurbishment and how long before further reinvestment would be required or forthcoming.

• Defining the scope of regeneration – an assessment of what is lacking in the area, including resident aspirations and local housing market information and what the regeneration programme is intended to achieve.

• Feasibility study – providing a preferred regeneration option, and brief account of other options considered, showing what can be achieved without public sector resources and the additional outcomes that can be achieved with this funding. Key stakeholders and delivery partners should be identified within this study.

As an urgent response to the market downturn, the Mayor and HCA launched the London kickstart scheme. In advance of the national scheme, this reviewed the major regeneration projects where business plans had been undermined by adverse economic and financial conditions. In addition to the £77 million allocated through the Targeted Funding Stream, £144 million of London HCA funding was made available to support nine schemes.

The Mayor will make the case for London’s fair share of funding to contribute towards regeneration in the capital, and will continue to prioritise regeneration investment, particularly in those schemes that have already received some funding and are now delivering on site. To guide this investment,

the Mayor, working with the LDA and the HCA, has identified the large strategic regeneration projects across London, that are receiving funding in the 2008-11 investment round and will need to have some degree of certainty across future spending rounds. While there can be no guarantees of funding in future spending rounds, the Mayor is clear that he would want to prioritise funding to ensure that major schemes, once commenced, are seen through to completion and commitments made to local communities are delivered.

Policy 2.3B | Housing regeneration must be aligned with complementary social and economic initiatives wherever appropriate; and contribute to the promotion of mixed income, mixed tenure, safe and desirable neighbourhoods.

The Mayor will prioritise investment in housing regeneration schemes that include a significant element of job creation, especially schemes that promote mixed use, including new retail and opportunities for small and medium enterprises, in areas that are currently solely or primarily residential. This Mayor will also expect boroughs and their housing association and development partners to ensure that schemes support the Mayor’s draft Economic Development Strategy, in particular aligning investment with the work of the London Skills and Employment Board, to enhance opportunities for employment and training alongside regeneration.


Case studies | Kickstarting regeneration

Heathside and Lethbridge, LB Lewisham and Family MosaicThe Heathside and Lethbridge redevelopment is the first regeneration scheme to benefit from the funding from the Mayor’s Targeted Funding Stream aimed at unblocking regeneration schemes where business plans have been undermined by current adverse economic and financial conditions. Like many other regeneration projects, Heathside and Lethbridge was going be funded through cross-subsidy from the sale of private homes built as part of the development. This business model became unviable as a result of the downturn in the housing market and without the TFS funding, it would not be progressing.

£14.4 million is being provided through the TFS to enable the development of 138 affordable homes, the first phase of the regeneration project. This will provide 79 homes for affordable rent, ten for nil rent shared ownership for existing resident leaseholders and 49 for intermediate rent. All homes will be built to the Lifetime Homes standard and ten per cent of homes overall will be wheelchair adaptable. Once completed, the scheme will have increased the number of homes on the estate from 527 to 1,200.

Woodberry Down, LB HackneyOne scheme awarded funding from the London HCA’s kickstart pot of £144 million is

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Case studies | Kickstarting regeneration

Woodberry Down. The decision to demolish the 1,980 homes on the Woodberry Down estate and replace them with a mixed tenure development of 4,600 new homes was taken in 2002. Decanting began in 2004, since when both decanted residents and those remaining on the estate have been waiting for the first new homes to be built. Many of those still living in the ageing buildings are enduring deteriorating living conditions.

HCA funding, of £16 million, has enabled this scheme to progress by accelerating work on the site of a former school. This will provide 117 social rented homes, with further funding to be agreed for 46 homes for shared ownership.

Homes for market sale will soon be built on the same site, funded by the Council’s development partner. In addition, five further sites have been cleared so that the building of new social rented, intermediate and market homes can begin. The first new homes at Woodberry Down will be delivered in 2011, with the final phase of the regeneration due to complete in 2027. Regeneration of the estate will also provide the opportunity for new and improved facilities, with better open spaces, roads, retail shops, schools, nurseries, health and community facilities, to meet the needs of the growing community in the area. The new community facilities are being developed in the first phase.


Improving infrastructure and amenities, and raising the standard of services, play a vitally important role in recasting struggling areas as attractive neighbourhoods. The Mayor will expect any major regeneration projects that are funded to deliver existing and proposed London Plan policies to protect and enhance social infrastructure. In particular, he will require Opportunity Area Planning Frameworks and other relevant Action Area Plans to ensure adequate provision of social infrastructure in areas of major new development and regeneration.

Regeneration should deliver high quality environments and homes, achieving the Mayor’s design standards as set out in his draft London Housing Design Guide. Where homes are being refurbished, physical improvements should be designed to improve accessibility and inclusion, and particular attention should be paid to fire safety. Initiatives should also improve the environment surrounding homes, which is often difficult and unattractive, and seek to design out crime and provide residents with an increased sense of security without compromising the attractiveness or openness of an area. In addition, densification of an estate or area must not be at the expense of the provision of green or play space or of necessary community services and infrastructure. Where appropriate, initiatives should look to incorporate adjoining spaces where these can add amenity to a regeneration scheme.

Regeneration initiatives must demonstrate how they are breaking up concentrations of mono-tenure. Providing opportunities for market and low cost home ownership in areas dominated by social rented homes can attract employed households to an area, creating additional demand for local goods and services. These homes will also provide opportunities to meet the aspirations of existing local residents, including leaseholders displaced by regeneration activity.

Policy 2.3C | Regeneration initiatives must be planned with and delivered through local partnerships.

Working with local partnerships, public sector agencies must balance the need for local responses with the need for consistent and targeted public sector intervention across the capital. The Mayor will expect regeneration programmes to demonstrate active engagement with residents. Regeneration proposals should clearly outline the community’s aspirations for the estate and area, and demonstrate ‘buy in’ from residents either directly affected or living in surrounding areas. Options that give residents increased opportunities to participate in the delivery of local services, particularly housing management, or that consider the transfer of ownership and control of local assets to local communities will be encouraged.

Consultation and involvement activities should also look to empower residents, and

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develop wider skills, alongside appropriate processes to ensure that the excluded and hard to reach are engaged. Structures must be in place to ensure that the public, private and not-for-profit sectors share an understanding of the overall project, to ensure that investment in housing regeneration is aligned with wider public and commercial investment to develop a more attractive offer to existing residents and potential newcomers to the area.

2.3.2 Reducing the number of empty homesMost empty properties are only empty in the short term. These are typically properties that are on the market, are recently inherited or are between tenants. These are inevitable in any market and are not generally a problem for the local community. Indeed, very low void levels can be a sign of an inflexible housing market.

It is when a home is empty for a longer period that problems arise. Some 35,000 (1.1 per cent) of London’s private and public sector homes have been empty for more than six months72. In addition to being a waste of a vital housing resource in London, these homes often attract vandalism and anti-social behaviour. Empty homes can rapidly spoil the built environment, creating local eyesores, and can seriously affect the value of neighbouring properties.

Where these are empty for the reasons set out above, most will come back into use with no intervention. However, where they are caught in a protracted legal dispute, have been abandoned or become derelict, or where the owner lacks the resources or the intention to bring the property back into use, then the public sector should act.

Identifying empty homes has proved problematic, with traditionally used sources of data, such as council tax records, often proving to be an unreliable source of information. Further, returning such properties to use is challenging and expensive, often requiring enforcement action or significant investment to make them habitable. For many boroughs, powers such as Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) are still relatively unfamiliar, though some have developed considerable expertise in this area.

Policy 2.3D | No more than one per cent of homes should stand empty and unused for over six months.

Reducing and maintaining the proportion of long term empty homes to just one per cent of all homes will require investment to bring at least 3,000 homes back into use. The Mayor is directing £60 million of Targeted Funding Stream resources to support boroughs to achieve this aim. This will enable boroughs

An empty property can devalue neighbouring properties by as much as 18 per cent and a fifth of those living near an empty home believe that the empty home attracts crime


to improve advice, information, support and, in some circumstances, grants to owners, to bring empty properties into use. Where other measures fail, the Mayor encourages boroughs to use their powers of enforcement through legal sanctions, including the use of Compulsory Purchase Orders and EDMOs.

The Mayor has prioritised bids for funding that bring long term empty homes, derelict empty homes and listed buildings at risk into use. London’s long term empty properties include 140 listed residential buildings at risk of being lost due to neglect or decay73. Bringing such properties into use will not only provide more homes, but will also safeguard the capital’s rich architectural heritage.

Policy 2.3E | Better information should be available to help target action to tackle abandoned and derelict homes, with no financial incentives to leaving homes empty.

London’s five sub-regions are co-ordinating the Londonwide audit of long term empty homes. The audit will enable London boroughs to develop a more robust record of properties vacant for more than 12 months than Council Tax data has been able to provide. This information will have a number of benefits, including enabling better understanding of the scale and nature of the problem and ensuring more appropriate targeting and prioritisation of resources to tackle empty homes.

The Mayor also encourages London boroughs to use their discretion to ensure that their Council Tax regime does not provide a financial incentive to leave a property empty.

North London is the first sub-region in London to have commissioned and completed an audit of all its private sector empty homes. The primary aim of the audit was to enable the sub-region to prioritise properties that had been empty the longest, were eyesores or in disrepair, or were the most complained about by local residents, in order to target investment and action. A physical inspection on a street by street basis was carried out in order to ensure that the north London boroughs had a comprehensive list of all

empty private sector homes across the sub-region. A variety of sources, including council tax records, the electoral register and Valuation Office data, were then cross-referenced to check that the homes were empty. Thirteen per cent of the 4,524 empty homes identified have been targeted for action in 2009/10. The findings are being constantly updated, with properties added or removed as new empty homes are found or those already identified are brought back into use.

Case study | Empty homes audit, North London sub-region

3 Maximising delivery, optimising value for money

3.1 Delivering across LondonTo develop, through the HCA, new partnerships and better approaches to providing homes in successful communities.

3.2 Delivering locallyTo work with London’s boroughs to ensure the effective local delivery of our shared aims.

3.1 Delivering across London

VisionTo develop, through the HCA, new partnerships and better approaches to providing homes in successful communities.

London now has a unique set of arrangements in place - with the Mayor responsible for housing strategy and investment, and the HCA and its London board, chaired by the Mayor, responsible for housing delivery. These arrangements provide an opportunity for the Mayor, the HCA and the boroughs to work much more closely and effectively than in the past to deliver the homes that London needs; developing better relationships with the development industry as a whole, and creating new ways of working. But there is a need to build on these devolved arrangements, to ensure that local communities have greater engagement in and support for how housing is delivered in their local area.

London’s housing market has been seriously affected by recent economic and financial conditions. The economic downturn has created major challenges in maintaining delivery of London’s housing supply pipeline.

But it is essential that delivery is maintained, as the downturn has not, in any way, reduced the need and demand for more homes in the capital (see Section 1.1). In fact, many problems have been exacerbated. Providing an adequate supply of high-quality homes is also vital to maintain London’s international competitiveness, and the construction industry itself is a major source of employment in the capital. In addition, a loss in capacity in the development sector will impede market recovery for London.

In these circumstances, the creation of the HCA, alongside the new powers devolved to the Mayor, could not have come at a more challenging time. Nor could they have come at a more opportune time. As the next spending round approaches, there is now both an opportunity and a pressing need to rethink how housing is planned for and delivered in London.

3.1.1 Creating a new architecture for deliveryIn the past, public investment in housing was too often poorly co-ordinated between national government, its agencies, regional government and local authorities. Although individual programmes may have delivered their core aims, the wide variety of funding streams – running on different lines to different target regimes – led to patchy delivery and sub-optimal use of resources. This need to improve the co-ordination, planning and delivery of public housing investment was recognised in the creation of the HCA, which brought together the investment functions of the former Housing Corporation, the property and regeneration functions of the former English Partnerships, and various housing and regeneration functions from CLG, including delivery responsibility for the Thames Gateway.

The specific arrangements in London – with a regional HCA Board - recognise the capital’s uniqueness in terms of its governance and its economic position as the cornerstone of the UK economy, together with the scale of its housing challenges. They provide a distinctive and powerful opportunity to secure strategic and operational alignment of the main sources

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of housing and regeneration investment in the capital. In addition to wrapping in the key political and delivery organisations in London, the HCA London Board has developed close links with the Mayor’s Housing Forum and with the wider development industry.

The Mayor is responsible for setting the number and mix of homes needed to meet London’s housing requirements, and the strategic aims to be met from the capital’s share of national housing resources. The HCA is responsible for ensuring the effective delivery of those aims. But it is boroughs that are best placed to judge how those homes should be delivered, so as to meet local needs and aspirations, within the context of the boroughs’ community plans and place-shaping role. Boroughs are the principal partners in delivering housing in London and a new settlement that puts them at the forefront of housing delivery is needed. However, in the end it is developers - private, public and not-for-profit - that actually build the homes so any new arrangements must also ensure effective engagement with the industry.

Policy 3.1A | The Mayor and HCA will develop and enhance the existing London arrangements to ensure they effectively support housing delivery.

The HCA is now moving into its second year of operation, and housing market conditions continue to be very different from those which applied when the HCA was being created. The Mayor is keen to build on the existing arrangements, working with central

government and the other members of the HCA London Board, to review whether they need to adapt and be enhanced to ensure that they are effectively supporting the delivery of housing in London. The HCA and GLA group will work to align their intelligence and research capacities to better inform housing policy.

Policy 3.1B | The Mayor and the HCA will work with boroughs, through the Single Conversation, to devolve increased responsibility for housing delivery.

The Mayor wishes to move towards a model of ‘delegated delivery’ for housing investment. This would involve voluntary agreements with boroughs to give them more responsibility for local delivery, in return for agreement on key aims with the Mayor and the HCA. Boroughs would have indicative budgets, would be afforded flexibility across programme budgets and on targets, and would lead on local decision-making around what is delivered, where and by whom. In return for this boroughs would commit to delivering stretching and ambitious targets in line with strategic regional objectives, and would have a clear strategy for the use of their own assets and resources to support housing delivery.

Delegated delivery will start in April 2011. Agreements will be negotiated through the Single Conversation and formally agreed between the HCA London Board and individual boroughs. The HCA will retain responsibility for managing its investment

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programme, as it is important that the new approach enables the HCA to respond flexibly to development opportunities and to deliver efficiencies and regional targets.

The Mayor is also keen that the housing-related investment by the LDA and wider GLA family supports this model. The HCA London Board will retain responsibility for overseeing the Londonwide programme, including ‘dispute resolution’ should problems arise.

It is proposed that a small pilot programme is set up in 2010/11, with the GLA and HCA working with three London boroughs and their investment partners. Given that the key investment decisions for the remainder of the 2008-11 programme have largely been made already, the primary aim of this pilot will be to develop a framework for delegated delivery for each pilot borough. The three boroughs in the pilot will be Croydon, Hackney and Westminster, representing inner and outer London boroughs, those with large strategic and regeneration sites and those with mainly small-scale development opportunities. The pilot will be overseen by a steering group, which will comprise representatives from the GLA, HCA, government and London Councils. Should the pilot prove successful, the boroughs involved will be in a position to enter into formal delegated delivery contracts from April 2011. The pilot will be reviewed in the summer of 2010 and other boroughs will be encouraged to join at that stage.

3.1.2 Developing new investment models and delivery mechanismsLondon’s housing market has been severely affected by the economic and financial problems of the last two years. The resulting downturn has created major challenges in maintaining delivery of London’s housing pipeline. The Mayor and HCA have worked to support public and private sector developers by providing funding for developments that were either already on site, or were ready to start on site, but were in danger of being mothballed. HCA London effectively led the way nationally on programmes to intervene, which included being far more flexible on investment policy and taking a new approach to kickstart housing delivery on large strategic sites.

The market has seemingly stabilised, but at a lower level of activity than prior to the credit crunch. Falling house prices and land values have meant that many schemes simply cannot go ahead as originally planned. Even where development is still viable, reduced margins mean there is much less cross-subsidy for affordable housing. Despite massive government intervention in the banking industry, the banks remain very cautious about lending to first-time buyers. Developers are also finding it far more difficult to raise the finance to build homes. Taken together, it is no surprise that housing starts have fallen, with severe implications for housing supply. Over the last year the public sector stepped into the breach and significant increases in funding were brought to bear to support housing delivery and ensure sites remain viable. This


level of public sector investment will be very challenging to maintain in the face of an expected squeeze on public spending in coming years.

In order to make best use of available public assets and resources and to continue to provide more homes, there is a pressing need to develop new delivery mechanisms. The conventional market-led delivery model is no longer viable in the current financial and economic conditions. To deliver the scale of homes required, there is a need to develop a new approach that reduces developers’ exposure to market risks, as both private and public sector developers have recently become more risk adverse. This de-risking of development can take many forms, but the overall objective must be to ensure that any new partnerships or delivery vehicles are supported in as much as doing so enables them to better achieve the Mayor’s strategic housing objectives.

Institutional investors are showing an increasing interest in exploring the yield opportunities from investing in London’s housing market. Such institutional investment has previously been fairly limited in the UK, both in absolute terms and in comparison with mainland Europe and in North America. However, there is strong underlying demand for housing in London, and the rental sector remains relatively strong. At a time of low interest rates, the stable income returns from rent, the overall return of rent plus capital growth, and prospects for portfolio diversification could make residential sector attractive to such organisations looking for longer term investment opportunities.

Policy 3.1C | The HCA and LDA will develop flexible investment models suited to the current and future economic and financial climate.

The HCA has responded to the difficulties in the housing and development sectors in a number of ways. These include delivering the London part of the housing stimulus package announced in the 2009 Budget and the subsequent ‘Housing Pledge’. However, the HCA in London had already developed a number of initiatives designed to maintain development in the increasingly challenging economic environment prior to these national announcements, set out in the box opposite.

The HCA London Board will be reviewing the success of these approaches and seeking further opportunities to innovate. However, the level of resources required to provide the levels of grant that underpinned these more flexible approaches in 2008/9 and 2009/10 is unlikely to be available in future years. Therefore, additional flexibilities and innovations, over and above those with regard to how the National Affordable Housing Programme (NAHP) is allocated, will be required to maintain delivery.

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HCA London – investment flexibilities to maintain delivery

• To provide confidence to developers and deal with the rising costs of developing affordable housing, greater flexibilities in levels of NAHP grant have been made available. Further, building on the introduction of Continuous Market Engagement, the HCA also adopted a ’package approach’ to bids – appraising a developer’s bids for grant as a portfolio rather than singly.

• To address the problems of falling market sales, there has been significant substitution of intermediate rent and rent-to-buy for low cost home ownership and market housing.

• To bring forward new starts, grant for the NAHP has been made available to support land acquisition costs.

• NAHP grant has also been made available for some demolition and renewal schemes where there was no net increase in new affordable housing.

• The HomeBuy Direct scheme was launched, to convert developers’ surplus stock to shared equity affordable housing.

• A rolling review of major regeneration sites across London is being undertaken, to identify specific investments that can help to keep development happening.

• Gap funding has been provided to key schemes, by making targeted acquisitions and assisting with infrastructure – in return for a share of surpluses when values and scheme viability improves.

• The HCA is working with a number of boroughs to identify and grant assist affordable housing development on small and medium sized sites in their ownership.

group and land owned by the wider public sector in London – including that on the HCA Register of Surplus Public Sector Land. There is growing potential for local authorities to develop new homes themselves, in particular where they are landowners, and the Mayor will ensure that they are supported to do so.

The HCA launched its Public Land Initiative in 2009, alongside its Private Rented Sector Initiative. At the same time, the LDA is developing proposals for a London Housing Company, which could create a Londonwide vehicle for public sector landholders to share investment risk and procurement costs. The

Policy 3.1D | The HCA and LDA will lead on bringing forward public sector land and attracting institutional investment to support the provision of new homes.

Much of the land available for residential development in London is in public sector ownership, including two thirds of the capacity for new homes in London Thames Gateway. The Mayor has established a taskforce to ensure that public sector land is brought forward in a way that supports the development of new homes. This will address the different challenges of land owned by the HCA and LDA, land owned by the GLA


Public Land Taskforce, reporting to the HCA London Board, will oversee the programme of bringing public land forward in London, to ensure that these initiatives are fully aligned. The common aim is to drive new supply by bringing forward surplus public land, or acquiring new sites, and – by discounting the upfront costs – ease the cash flows that would otherwise constrain new supply in current market conditions.

The HCA’s Private Rented Sector Initiative is intended to create an opportunity for investors such as pension funds to enter this sector on a large scale for the first time – seeking to work with financial institutions and other investors to develop a long term funding model for new private rental housing (see Policy 1.4A). The Mayor is keen to investigate whether there are also opportunities for institutions to invest in mixed tenure developments with market, intermediate and social rented homes.

Policy 3.1E | The HCA and LDA will support new delivery arrangements better suited to current and future housing market conditions.

The Mayor, HCA and LDA will work with boroughs, HCA investment partners, other public agencies and private developers to identify new delivery mechanisms that focus on longer term value creation rather than short term returns. These new partnerships should be ones where the risks and rewards of housing development are evenly shared among all partners, making effective use of the different resources available to the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. They should also be long term partnerships, with the aim of mitigating the risks and front-end costs associated with development and regeneration.

Delivery mechanisms such as Local Housing Companies, Community Land Trusts and other asset-backed public/private partnerships have the potential to play a significant role in delivering additional homes and will be supported where they can do so.

These partnerships also present new opportunities to deliver well designed and good quality homes of all tenures and improve the engagement of local communities in housing development. Where the HCA and LDA enable these partnerships by bringing forward public land or supporting institutional investment, these new partnerships will also need to support the Mayor’s wider housing aims – as set out in this strategy.

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The extension of the East London Line with a new station, rail links and a bus interchange presented an opportunity to regenerate Dalston. With the key development opportunities around the new station owned by the public sector, this is a good example of how public agencies can use their land holdings to deliver a wide range of community benefits.

Working in partnership with the London Development Agency, London Borough of Hackney brought forward its surplus land and

Transport for London built a slab over the over the airspace above the new Dalston Junction to facilitate development above the station.

As well as improved transport links and employment opportunities, Dalston will have a regenerated town centre with new library and archive, new shops and restaurants. A new public open space has also been provided – the largest new public space to be created in the area for more than 100 years – as well as over 500 new homes.

Case study | Dalston Square, London Borough of Hackney


VisionTo work with London’s boroughs to ensure the effective local delivery of our shared aims.

Each tier of London government has a specific contribution to make in improving the lives of Londoners. While the Mayor provides leadership and makes strategic decisions in the interests of London as a whole, many areas of policy are the responsibility of boroughs and are best dealt with at a local level. Where this is the case, boroughs and local agencies should be left to do the things that they do best, with intervention from the Mayor only where this is appropriate and the strategic interests of London require it. This approach underpins the London City Charter74.

One of the most critical roles of London boroughs is leading on place-shaping and the promotion of sustainable communities. Their Sustainable Community Strategies set out their long term, strategic vision for their area, with Local Area Agreements underpinning delivery plans for realising that vision. Working with partners, stakeholders and local people, they develop that vision and drive its delivery.

In recent years, boroughs have increasingly worked together including, on a sub-regional basis, to tackle cross-borough issues. This way of working enables boroughs to pool their resources and benefit from economies of scale when developing and implementing projects.

This section outlines the Mayor’s approach to the key London housing issues where boroughs and sub-regions play the lead role and, in many cases, for which boroughs are statutorily responsible. These include tackling homelessness, providing housing options, advice and opportunities, enabling independence through support, and managing homes and neighbourhoods. It recognises the high-quality services that boroughs are providing and seeks to ensure that the very best practice becomes common practice across the capital.

3.2.1 Tackling homelessnessHomelessness affects many thousands of people in acute housing need in the capital, including rough sleepers and tens of thousands of others living in temporary accommodation, insecure housing or hostels.

London is the only region of the country that has not met national targets to reduce rough sleeping by two thirds, with an estimated 250 rough sleepers on any one night in the capital – half of the national total – and almost 3,500 in the course of a year75 76. Many long term rough sleepers have complex and multiple needs, which can only be addressed through intensive support and appropriate services. Co-ordinating these services is particularly difficult in London, where borough and health provision covers different geographic areas within a single city. This can result in inequality of, or exclusion from, services due to issues of local connection,

3.2 Delivering locally

Of the 3,472 rough sleepers recorded in 2008/09 on London’s streets, 2,012 were new rough sleepers

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which can be particularly problematic for highly mobile groups or those with specialist needs.

In addition to this most extreme form of homelessness, thousands of families and individuals seek help from local authorities because they are homeless or at risk of becoming so. For many, prevention advice or assistance to access homes in the private rented sector resolves their homelessness. For others, the social sector may be most appropriate, but the chronic shortage of available social rented homes means that most statutorily homeless households (primarily families with children and vulnerable people) face a period in temporary accommodation, frequently for a number of years. Where this is the case, it is essential that households, especially children, continue to have access to services, including education, health and social services.

Policy 3.2A | Rough sleeping should be ended by 2012.

In February 2009, the Mayor, in partnership with CLG, established the London Delivery Board – a strategic partnership to identify lasting and sustainable solutions to rough sleeping in the capital. The Board is responsible for taking ownership of the problem of rough sleeping and delivering the target to end it.

The Board’s action plan will help to deliver the objectives of the government’s national Rough Sleeping Strategy in London77. It will build on and reinforce the strengths

of existing partnerships and strategic approaches, including the London Rough Sleepers Reconnections Protocol, which needs to be implemented by all boroughs to ensure it is effective. Such actions reflect that rough sleeping is a pan-London problem requiring a response that is both wider than borough level and cross-sectoral.

The Board, the first of its kind in London, brings together key London boroughs, central government departments and agencies, representatives of the voluntary sector, the LDA, NHS London and the Metropolitan Police. Ending rough sleeping means that, by 2012, no current rough sleepers should still be on the streets; that anyone on the streets receives an appropriate rapid response to move them from the street, and that those who have been assisted do not return to the street.

Policy 3.2B | The number of households in temporary accommodation should be halved by the end of 2010.

Because of their statutory responsibilities, London’s boroughs in particular shoulder the burden, financial cost and challenges of homelessness. In the face of this ever-more challenging problem, they work - often in partnership with other agencies - to reduce and tackle homelessness, meet housing need and provide stable and settled homes. These approaches are paying dividends. Intensive work on homelessness prevention has resulted in the number of households accepted as


One of the first actions of the London Delivery Board, established to deliver the Mayor’s target to end rough sleeping in London by 2012, was to focus on the most entrenched rough sleepers in the capital and to provide individual responses to this group.

Information from outreach teams identified the 205 most entrenched rough sleepers on the capital’s streets – a group with highly complex needs and histories. Since May 2009, London boroughs and homeless outreach services have been working collaboratively on a combination of accommodation offers, specialist treatment, the innovative use of individual budgets and measures to curb anti-social behaviour to help this group.

This approach is already showing success. For example, one local authority worked with a faith-based organisation to help a woman

with a long history of rough sleeping. She had previously refused the borough’s services, but the faith group gained her trust and persuaded the woman to move into accommodation, where she has continued to stay.

Another such success has seen a man with a twenty-year history of sleeping and drinking on the streets move into a specialist hostel. The threat of an anti-social behaviour order, to curb aggressive and abusive behaviour towards the public, persuaded the man to accept a hostel place, where he has remained, and his street drinking has dramatically reduced.

With two thirds of the ‘205’ already off the streets, the challenges that remain are sustaining those individuals in accommodation, assisting the remaining group with appropriate accommodation and services, and breaking the cycle of rough sleeping for them all.

Case study | 205 entrenched rough sleepers, London Delivery Board

79

homeless in London falling by over 50 per cent over the last five years78. Significant progress is also being made towards meeting the target to halve the numbers in temporary accommodation by 31 December 2010. By the end of September 2009, the number of households in temporary accommodation had fallen by 29 per cent from the baseline level at the end of December 200479.

Key to sustaining this progress will be the role of housing associations. In their Offer to London document, the G15 group of housing associations have set out their role in providing homes for homeless households, in preventing homelessness through tenancy sustainment and in working in partnership with London’s local authorities to deliver better outcomes in tackling homelessness80.

To support London boroughs to achieve this target, the Mayor is directing investment to develop new social rented homes, supporting initiatives that will increase housing opportunities outside London to free up existing homes, and is investing in schemes that convert temporary accommodation into permanent social rented homes (see Section 1.3).

Policy 3.2C | People in temporary accommodation should have full access to education, health and, where required, social services.

London Councils will work with all London boroughs to maximise the use of NOTIFY.

Ensuring Londonwide participation in NOTIFY will facilitate vital service delivery to people in temporary accommodation.

The NOTIFY system is London Councils’ web-based notification and information service designed to improve access to health, education, housing and social services for homeless households placed in temporary accommodation by London boroughs under homelessness legislation. The system uses information provided by London borough housing departments to notify housing, education, social care, and health services about homeless households placed in, moving between or leaving temporary accommodation.

3.2.2 Improving housing options, support and opportunitiesGiven the range of housing problems that Londoners can encounter and the apparent complexity of housing options available to them, it is essential that there is open and easy access to good quality housing advice across the capital. Many boroughs successfully achieve this by providing a one stop shop, encompassing their homelessness functions, private sector landlord/tenant advice, the provision of information about different tenure options – including private renting and low cost home ownership – as well as advice and support for people underoccupying social rented homes who may wish to move.

London also has a rich independent housing advice sector, which complements borough


provision and provides a vital range of specialist assistance to people with specific needs. Comprehensive and independent advice and support are essential elements of responding to local housing needs.

Many of London’s most vulnerable households require housing support to promote and maintain independence, better health and improved life chances. For some, this is most appropriately provided in their existing home through floating support, while others require support linked to accommodation (see section 1.3.2 on supported housing). To this end, London boroughs, acting as commissioning bodies in partnership with local health, voluntary sector and other agencies, provide housing support services to around 130,000 Londoners. While borough-level commissioning bodies are best placed to assess and deliver support for people living locally, the development and maintenance of services for some groups has been uneven across London, especially for people who move between boroughs or where small numbers mean that provision needs to be commissioned by more than one borough81.

Policy 3.2D | Good quality advice and information on housing, including housing options, should be available to all Londoners who need it.

Boroughs should provide comprehensive and effective advice and support to people at risk of repossession, targeting help at those who are most vulnerable.

Advice services provided by boroughs and independent agencies will prevent homelessness, to develop legitimate and sustainable options to enable those in difficulty to remain in their home and to protect people from the more unscrupulous ‘sell to rent back’ schemes currently on offer. LHS Policy 1.2J sets out details of how the government’s mortgage rescue scheme needs to be implemented to meet the particular needs of London’s struggling homeowners.

The Mayor’s London Rents Map signposts housing advice and information to promote and protect tenants’ rights (see Section 1.4 on the private rented sector).

Policy 3.2E | Supported housing will be improved and protected, including services required on a pan-London or sub-regional basis, or for more mobile client groups.

While the HCA provides capital funding for supported housing, boroughs should ensure adequate revenue funding is available to support Londoners in a variety of housing situations (in line with the anticipated increase in the number of new supported homes).

In planning services, London’s boroughs need to pay specific attention to the issue of an ageing society - especially with traditional sheltered housing not always meeting modern standards or expectations. In this context it is particularly important to consider how new and innovative models of housing support can be developed and tailored to meet the needs

81

and aspirations of the ageing ‘baby boom’ generation, now, by and large, in its 60s, both accommodation-based and floating support and across all tenures.

Better multi-borough, sub-regional and regional planning and commissioning of accommodation-based and floating support services, will ensure the needs of groups who are not significant in number at borough level, or who are highly mobile, are met. Protecting existing services that meet such needs and therefore have strategic importance is also essential. Boroughs should take strategic considerations fully into account before making changes to supported housing services of sub-regional and pan-London importance.

3.2.3 Improving management and empowering tenantsResidents want neighbourhoods that are peaceful, safe and enjoyable to live in. Housing management plays an important role in contributing to this and, since the late 1990s, boroughs and housing associations have significantly improved their performance in this area. The TSA is responsible for the regulation of social housing providers. It has a wider regulatory role and broader remit than previous regulators and this is likely to further drive up management standards and services for tenants in the future.

Good housing management is about much more than collecting rents and enforcing tenancy conditions. It includes tackling anti-social behaviour, involving local people in decision

making and supporting vulnerable people – and can extend to services such as those to tackle worklessness and to provide housing options advice. In many areas, a broader neighbourhood management approach can be beneficial. It is also essential that housing management responds to the needs of leaseholders, particularly where their homes are involved in major works or regeneration programmes.

Section 2.1 highlights the huge impact that crime, the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour can have on people’s lives and neighbourhoods and how good housing design can alleviate these. Housing management and meeting the needs of vulnerable groups have an equally large role to play. The boroughs in particular have responsibilities to prevent domestic violence and rehouse victims of violence, to ensure intimidated victims and witnesses are appropriately rehoused and to tackle anti-social behaviour such as littering, vandalism, graffiti, drug dealing and noise. The advice and assistance provided by boroughs under the ‘Duty to Co-operate’ arrangements can also play a critical role in making London safer, through resettling offenders subject to Multi Agency Public Protection Arrangements82.

Policy 3.2F | Housing management should be of a consistent and high standard.

Many London boroughs have a dual role, being both a landlord and having oversight of standards across all rented tenures. Section 1.4 sets out the local authority role in tackling


standards in the private rented sector. In areas where there are a large number of social landlords managing properties, suitable approaches should be adopted, such as stock rationalisation where appropriate. Boroughs should also ensure new mixed tenure developments have in place long term sustainable management.

On 1 April 2010, the TSA will become responsible for the regulation of local authority housing and, by extension, arms length management organisations, as well as the housing associations for which they are already responsible. The TSA will work to target poor performance and ensure a consistent and excellent quality of landlord services across the sector.

Good housing management will involve social landlords working with local authorities and other partners to achieve a range of social and economic goals. These may include enabling the National Witness Mobility Scheme, the provision of holistic sanctuary schemes for victims of violence preferring to stay in their homes and cross-borough moves for those fleeing violence.

Policy 3.2G | Information, advice and support to public sector leaseholders in areas and estates where major works and improvements are planned should be of a consistent and high standard.

Council or housing association tenants who exercise their Right to Buy on flats or

maisonettes, and most people who buy flats or maisonettes on the open market, own them on long leases. They thus become leaseholders, while – in the social sector - the council or housing association continues to own the freehold. The freeholder remains responsible for the maintenance of the structure and communal areas of blocks and estates and, under the terms of their lease, leaseholders are usually required to pay service charges, including contributing to any major works that are carried out.

The Mayor encourages all of London’s social landlords to ensure that good quality information, advice and support is available to leaseholders whose homes are subject to major works, as required by the Landlord and Tenant Act 1985, the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002 and related legislation.

Policy 3.2H | Tenants and residents should have opportunities for meaningful and effective participation and engagement.

As the tier of London government closest to local people, boroughs will play a key role in empowering communities and enabling residents to influence how their areas and homes are managed. The TSA will work with social landlords to ensure they engage appropriately with their tenants to shape and improve the delivery of services.

Appendix 1 London’s public housing investment1 Apportionment of London’s Regional Housing Pot 2008-112 Homes and Communities Agency funding3 Targeted Funding Stream4 Targeted Funding Stream allocations made through Section 31 grant, 2008-105 Decent Homes funding

Appendix 2 HCA affordable housing completions profile, 2008-12

Appendix 3 Borough affordable housing delivery targets, 2008-11

Appendix

85

Appendix 1 London’s public housing investment

This appendix sets out how London’s public housing investment is being used over the 2008-11 investment period.

For the Targeted Funding Stream and the Decent Homes programme, it includes the agreed spend for 2008/09 and 2009/10, as directed by the Mayor under his investment powers, and the spend he is recommending to Ministers for 2010/11.

1 Apportionment of London’s Regional Housing Pot 2008-11The core of public housing investment is the Regional Housing Pot - London’s share of national housing resources for producing new and improving existing homes in the capital. The Regional Housing Pot amounts to £4.2 billion over the investment period 2008-11 and comprises three funding streams. The first and largest element of funding is for providing affordable – social rented and intermediate – homes, and resources are allocated through a bidding process to approved investment partners. The second is for meeting the Decent Homes standard and the final element is for a range of programmes that make up the Targeted Funding Stream.

£m % of programme

Producing new homes

Affordable homes from previous programmes 510 12

Affordable homes from 2008–11 programme 2,973 70

Improving existing homes

Decent Homes standard 440 10

Targeted Funding Stream 318 8

Total 4,241 100


2 Homes and Communities Agency fundingThis table shows the anticipated spend for HCA London in the three year period 2008-11. With the establishment of the HCA in December 2008, a number of existing nationally managed programmes were transferred to this organisation in addition to the programmes inherited from the Housing Corporation and English Partnerships. Not all of these were part of the Regional Housing Pot.

HCA London estimated programme expenditure, 2008-11

Baseline programmes

2008/09 outturn

£m 2009/10 £m 2010/11 £m2008 to 2011

£m

National Affordable Housing Programme 1,003 1,302 1,178 3,483

Property and Regeneration 60 46 17 123

Growth Funding 22 30 20 72

Thames Gateway 12 18 17 47

Community Infrastructure Fund 6 23 25 54

Places of Change 12 3 4 19

Gypsy and Traveller Site Grant 0 1 2 3

Housing Stimulus Package*

Kickstart Housing 0 0 0 0

Local Authority Build (Grant) 0 21 21 42

National Affordable Housing Programme 0 103 104 207

Low Carbon Infrastructure 0 4 0 4

Mortgage Rescue Scheme 0 81 40 121

Total 1,115 1,632 1,428 4,175

*the distribution of the Housing Stimulus Package is not yet fully determined

87

3 Targeted Funding StreamThis funding stream, which amounts to an estimated £318 million for 2008-11, funds projects that aim to make better use of London’s existing homes and enable London boroughs and social landlords to address some of the capital’s most pressing local housing needs. Local authorities, arms length management organisations and HCA Investment Partners were all eligible to bid for Targeted Funding Stream resources.

Funding programmes 2008/09 £m

2009/10 £m

2010/11 (recommended) £m

2008 to 2011

£mS31 HCA Total S31 HCA Total S31 HCA Total

Gypsy and Traveller Site Grant 2 0 2 0 1 1 0 2 2 5

Settled Homes Initiative 0 0 0 0 21 21 0 9 9 30

Improving the Condition and Use of Existing Homes 34 0 34 59 68 127 30 33 63 224

Innovation and Opportunity Fund 10 0 10 28 1 29 19 1 20 59

Total 46 0 46 87 91 178 49 45 94 318


4 Targeted Funding Stream allocations made through Section 31 grant, 2008-10

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Allocation (in £000s)

2008/09

2009/10 2010/11

(recommended)2008 to 2011

Barnet 2,208 2,263 2,319 6,790

Camden 10,643 10,643 10,643 31,929

City of London 40 41 42 123

Croydon 3,256 3,256 3,256 9,768

Ealing 5,900 5,900 5,900 17,700

Enfield 4,797 4,797 4,797 14,391

Greenwich 6,742 6,742 6,742 20,226

Hackney 17,700 17,700 17,700 53,100

Hammersmith and Fulham 6,072 6,072 6,072 18,216

Haringey 6,233 6,233 6,233 18,699

Harrow 2,725 2,725 2,725 8,175

Havering 2,114 2,114 2,114 6,342

Islington 9,112 9,153 9,194 27,459

Kensington and Chelsea 5,100 0 0 5,100

Kingston upon Thames 1,439 1,439 1,439 4,317

Lambeth 8,757 8,689 8,689 26,135

Lewisham 2,697 2,600 2,700 7,997

Merton 2,090 2,090 2,090 6,270

Newham 16,410 16,410 16,410 49,230

Sutton 1,244 1,244 1,244 3,732

Southwark 12,526 12,526 12,526 37,578

Tower Hamlets 15,500 15,500 15,500 46,500

Waltham Forest 6,680 6,680 6,680 20,040

London total 149,985 144,817 145,015 439,817

90

91

The table below illustrates that the Mayor’s commitment to deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes is achievable, even with no new resources, by 2012. It combines the 2008-11 affordable housing targets, across the HCA’s programmes, with the current 2011/12 forecasts.

Number of affordable homes to be completed between 2008 and 2012*

2008/9 outturn

2009/10 target

2010/11 target

2011/12 forecast

2008-12 total

Social rented

NAHP** 6,100 6,890 8,677 5,380 27,047

Other*** 0 0 1,087 1,297 2,384

Sub-total 6,100 6,890 9,764 6,677 29,431

Intermediate

NAHP** 5,649 5,595 4,975 3,000 19,219

Other*** 313 169 691 487 1,660

Sub-total 5,962 5,764 5,666 3,487 20,879

Total 12,062 12,654 15,430 10,164 50,310

*Position as at 31 October 2009. Table comprises HCA-funded homes only and excludes new funding from April 2011. See the HCA’s London Regional Investment Plan for more detail**National Affordable Housing Programme (which includes London kickstart)***’ Other’ comprises Housing Pledge targets, local authority new build, national kickstart and Property and Regeneration Programmes including the Londonwide Initiative and First Time Buyers Initiative

Appendix 2 HCA affordable housing completions profile, 2008-12

Number of homes

Borough name Target

Barking and Dagenham 1,785

Barnet 2,269

Bexley 566

Brent 1,600

Bromley* 795

Camden 1,000

City of London 50

Croydon 1,803

Ealing 1,065

Enfield 648

Greenwich 1,825

Hackney 1,779

Hammersmith and Fulham 967

Haringey 1,115

Harrow 656

Havering 800

Hillingdon 598

Hounslow 730

Islington 1,902

Kensington and Chelsea 270

Kingston upon Thames 420

Lambeth 1,803

Lewisham 1,395

Merton 315

Newham 2,300

Redbridge 650

Richmond upon Thames 398

Southwark 2,453

Sutton 660

Tower Hamlets** 5,064

Waltham Forest 1,090

Wandsworth 1,221

Westminster 925

Total 40,917

Appendix 3 Borough affordable housing delivery targets, 2008-11

92

*This was the original target proposed to Bromley by the Mayor, which both Bromley and the HCA expect to exceed. It is not yet a formally agreed target**This is Tower Hamlets’ Local Area Agreement target agreed with the government

93

1 GLA, Housing in London 2009, 2009

2 Communities and Local Government, Housing Live Table 508, 2009

3 Nationwide, All UK regions see house prices rise in third quarter, 2009


5 Communities and Local Government, July House Price Index, 2009

6 Communities and Local Government, Housing in England 2007/08, 2009

7 Council of Mortgage Lenders, Mortgage lending statistics, 2009


9 GLA, The London Plan: Consultation draft replacement plan, 2009

10 GLA, Greater London Demographic Review 2007, 2009

11 GLA, 2008 Round Demographic Projections, 2009

12 GLA, Housing in London, 2009,2009; London Plan Annual Monitoring Report 5, 2009

13 Communities and Local Government, Housing in England 2007/08, 2009

14 Communities and Local Government, Statutory Homelessness Quarter 3, 2009

15 GLA, 2008 London Strategic Housing Market Assessment, 2009

16 GLA, Housing in London, 2009

17 GLA, analysis of data provided by Communities and Local Government, 2009


19 Homes and Communities Agency data, January 2010

20 Census 2001

21 GLA, Housing in London 2008, 2008


23 Council of Mortgage Lenders, Press release: Tightening in lending criteria abates, 2009

24 GLA, Annual London Survey, 2007

25 Ipsos MORI for GLA, Accessing Intermediate Housing, 2009

26 RICS Economics, RICS Housing Accessibility and Affordability update for Great Britain – Q2 2008, August 2008


28 London Borough of Wandsworth sales register

29 Homes and Communities Agency, 2008/09 allocations

30 Ipsos MORI for GLA, Accessing Intermediate Housing, 2009

31 GLA, London Strategic Housing Market Assessment, 2009


References


33 GLA, Analysis of figures provided by Communities and Local Government, 2009 – three years of data from the Survey of English Housing

34 Information from boroughs is on the number of moves to smaller homes within each borough’s own stock; information from housing associations is on the number of households moving into their stock that give ‘underoccupation’ as their reason for moving; information from housingmoves is on the number of lettings made through Seaside and Country Homes

35 Communities and Local Government, Social Housing Fraud, July 2009; Audit Commission, National Fraud Initiative extended to detect social housing fraud, July 2009 http://www.communities.gov.uk/housing/housingmanagementcare/socialhousingfraud/; http://www.audit-commission.gov.uk/localgov/audit/nfi/Pages/default.aspx

36 GLA, Rising to the Challenge, October 2009

37 Association of London Government, London Housing Federation and Housing Corporation, Sub-Regional Housing Allocations and Lettings in London: The Endorsed Protocol, July 2004

38 Julie Rugg and David Rhodes, The Private Rented Sector: its Contribution and Potential, University of York: Centre for Housing Policy, 2008


40 GLA, Who Buys New Market Homes in London, 2007

41 The Crisis key principles for private rented sector schemes can be downloaded from www.privaterentedsector.org.uk

42 CABE/Homebuilders Federation, Building for Life, http://buildingforlife.org/. Building for Life is the national standard for well-designed homes and neighbourhoods

43 GLA, Housing Space Standards, HATC Limited, 2006

44 CABE, Summary, Space in New Homes: what residents think - A survey of owners of 2,500 private new homes built between 2003 and 2006 in and around London

45 GLA, The London Plan: consultation draft replacement plan, 2009.

46 Mayor of London, London Housing Design Guide, Draft for Consultation, July 2009

47 GLA, Analysis of London and Sub-regional Strategy Support Studies database, 2008

48 Communities and Local Government, Department of Health, Department of Work and Pensions, Lifetime Homes, Lifetime Neighbourhoods – A National Strategy for an Ageing Society, 2008

49 GLA, The London Plan: consultation draft replacement plan, 2009.

50 Communities and Local Government, Report to the Secretary of State by the Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser on the emerging issues arising from the fatal fire at Lakanal House, Camberwell on 3 July 2009, August 2009. The Regulatory (Fire Safety) Reform Order 2005 sets out current landlord responsibilities for carrying out regular Fire Risk Assessments

95

51 GLA, Best Practice Guidance on Wheelchair Accessible Housing, GLA September 2007


53 Section 106 is an agreement made between a planning authority and a developer under Section 106 of the Town and Country Planning Act 1990. These agreements require developers to reduce the impacts of development through payments, either in kind or in cash, such as affordable housing or the infrastructure to support new development

54 GLA, Analysis of Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix data, 2008

55 CABE, Annual Review 2005/06, 2006

56 GLA, Draft Replacement London Plan, 2009

57 GLA, Draft Climate Change Adaptation Strategy, 2009

58 The government is committed to a reduction of at least 34 per cent by 2020 and 80 per cent by 2050 – DECC. Climate Change Act 2008, Department of Energy and Climate Change and Communities and Local Government, Heat and Energy Savings Strategy Consultation Paper, February 2009

59 GLA, Action Today to Protect Tomorrow – the Mayor’s Climate Change Action Plan, 2007

60 GLA, Fuel Poverty in London, July 2009. Based on the Mayor’s Energy Strategy 2004 definition of fuel poverty: a fuel poor household is one that needs to spend more than 10 per cent of its residual income (ie income after housing costs) on energy to maintain a satisfactory heating regime. The government definition of fuel poverty is based on full income

61 GLA, The London Climate Change Adaptation Strategy draft report, 2010; GLA, The Mayor’s Water Strategy, draft for public consultation, 2009; GLA, The Mayor’s draft Municipal Waste Management Strategy, 2010. GLA, Clearing the Air, The Mayor’s draft Air Quality Strategy for consultation with the London Assembly and functional bodies, 2009; GLA, The Mayor’s draft Climate Change Mitigation and Energy Strategy, 2010


63 Communities and Local Government, English House Condition Survey, 2003

64 GLA, Pan-London Homes Retrofit Opportunity Presentation, March 2009

65 Communities and Local Government, Heat and Energy Savings Strategy Consultation Paper, February 2009

66 http://www.london.gov.uk/lowcarbonzones/

67 Communities and Local Government, Foundations, The Future Home Improvement Agency, Handyperson services report, February 2009

68 Communities and Local Government, English House Condition Survey 2007, 2009

69 Sustainable Homes Index For Tomorrow is an index run by Sustainable Homes that benchmarks the environmental sustainability of housing organisations. It is based on a self-assessed survey which


identifies a series of criteria against which organisations’ practices are assessed. Criteria cover strategy and governance, office practices, existing buildings and new build. The National Indicator (NI 185) provides a measure for the total CO

2 reductions from local authority operations and has been included by many

London boroughs in their Local Area Agreements

70 Steve Howlett, Society Guardian, 25 March 2009

71 Communities and Local Government, Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix, 2008

72 Communities and Local Government, Housing Strategy Statistical Appendix, 2008 and Business Plan Statistical Appendix, 2008, National Housing Federation unpublished data

73 English Heritage, Heritage at Risk Register, 2008

74 Mayor of London/London Councils, London City Charter, 2009

75 Communities and Local Government, National Rough Sleepers Statistics, 2009

76 Broadway, Street to Home: Annual report for London, 2009

77 Communities and Local Government, No One Left Out, 2008

78 Communities and Local Government, Statutory Homelessness, 2009

79 Communities and Local Government, Statutory Homelessness, 2009

80 G15, Tackling homelessness - our offer to London, G15, 2008

81 Communities and Local Government, Focus on the Future, 2003

82 Section 325(3) of the Criminal Justice Act 2003 imposes a duty on a range of agencies to co-operate with Multi-Agency Public Protection Arrangements (MAPPA)

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