Camden New Journal - News: 'i'll repair homes' says mayor Ken

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Camden New Journal - by TOM FOOT
Published: 20 March 2008

Mayor of London Ken Livingstone

‘I’ll repair homes,’ says mayor Ken

‘Disgusted’ Livingstone pledges to tackle backlog with new funding as he slams Town Hall

MAYOR of London Ken Livingstone has made a bold pledge to tackle Camden’s four-year housing repairs backlog.
He said he will seize control of government funds for housing in London next month and have £4 billion to play with.
In the past housing ministers have refused to hand money to Camden for its list of urgent repairs because tenants are against government policy of giving control to private operators.
But Mr Livingstone said – with him in control of the budget – the money can be swiftly unlocked, potentially cracking the frustrating deadlock.
He said it was simply up to Camden Council to ask for the funding.
In an interview with the New Journal, he said he was baffled by the Town Hall’s attitude and angry that it had instead begun selling off council homes to raise cash for overdue repair work.
“In some ways, we have as much money as we can spend – vast sums are available for things like refurbishing Camden’s existing properties,” said Mr Livingstone. “But there has been no approach whatsoever from Camden for funding – none at all.”
It is a Labour manifesto pledge to ensure all council tenants live in homes that meet national standards. But the government has been accused of blackmail after only providing funding to local authorities who give up playing landlord and hand over homes to private operators. Mr Livingstone, who is also tasked with building new cheap homes in London with the money, suggested he would not be bound by such restrictions.
The mayor, a former chairman of housing in Camden, added: “I was really disgusted to read about what is happening in Camden. The government has increased our budget from April so there are huge benefits for councils to rehabilitate housing. We will be very hostile to councils not embarking on rehabilitation schemes and aiming to preserve existing housing stock.”
Last month, Camden’s Liberal Democrat housing chief Councillor Chris Naylor said lobbying for housing funding had repeatedly been ignored.
He said: “I do not think that route is worth pursuing.” Cllr Naylor warned that 11,000 homes are in need of urgent investment and a sell-off of properties was needed to pay for the work.
A council spokeswoman said yesterday Camden planned to apply for funding from the mayor.

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