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Our aim is for Decent Homes
Camden Council owes it to tenants to get its homes up to standard as soon as possible, argues homes and housing chief councillor Chris Naylor
WHEN this council was elected in 2006 we committed to getting Camden’s council housing up to date. We inherited a position where 50 per cent of our homes were below the government’s basic Decent Homes standard owing to failing heating, inadequate wiring, outdated kitchens and bathrooms. Putting this right became a top priority.
The need is crystal clear. We need our elderly and our young families to know they can stay warm in their council flats and have hygienic bathrooms and kitchens for the sake of their health and quality of life.
But the challenge is finding the funding. We have made headway but we don’t yet have the millions we need.
Five years ago our tenants voted against the option to transfer our council housing to an arm’s length management organisation (Almo) and take the £283million of government funding that would have been available – a decision we respect.
So we are now tackling the issue in three key ways:
• first by bringing our homes up to a decent standard, a national standard set by government;
• secondly through estate regeneration; and
• thirdly by building new homes.
In 2007 we ran a major consultation. It established we have 14,000 homes in need of rewiring, 13,000 in need of new kitchens and 11,000 in need of better heating systems.
This posed a financial challenge.
The majority supported our proposal to sell a limited number of empty homes – just 2 per cent of our stock – in order to do up the rest of the houses.
With 1,200 homes coming empty each year, our plan was to sell up to 100 a year for five years, identifying homes in bad repair which absorb vital funds to fix.
But we also promised to build back modern, new homes in later years to replace those sold off.
With positive support from tenants I’m delighted to say we have now gone ahead to commit to a five-year £413million programme to improve our homes.
Like any building contract, works can be disruptive and not everything goes to plan but I’ve already seen the benefits for myself and met many tenants pleased by the improvements.
We have also been working for nearly two years with residents, ward councillors and community groups on four Camden estates earmarked for regeneration.
We’ve been spending time thinking about how they can be transformed into more positive communities.
On one estate we’re looking at converting old bedsits, which have been lying empty for years, into modern flats.
On other estates we’re looking at more community facilities, better shops, sustainability improvements and, indeed, additional new housing where there’s space.
We are all too aware of the massive problems of homelessness in London and of those stuck on our capital’s waiting lists. But we are already making real progress in this area, too, helping many of those who come to us homeless to settle into rented accommodation.
I’m proud that Camden has just achieved the biggest fall in homelessness of any London council, nearly halving the number in our hostels and temporary accommodation since 2006. But, of course, we need to build more homes, and I’m pleased that the council has now agreed a target of 1,000 new homes over the next three years with London’s mayor.
What prompted me to set out these major plans is what I have felt to be inflammatory and misleading headlines about renting out one- and two-bedroom council flats.
Headlines including, “Tenant fury at plan to raise cash by letting to top earners” give the impression that we don’t care about our council housing and our tenants.
Not true.
The idea is simply a proposal to help secure the funds we need to carry out the commitments I set out above.
Renting out some of the one-bedroom homes, many of which are not suitable for families on the waiting list because of their size is an idea which I personally believe is attractive.
The key advantage would be that any homes rented out would stay the council’s and come back into the council pool in due course, whereas if we sell a home, government rules mean it is lost to us for ever.
This new idea was discussed with all our tenants’ District Management Committees.
We owe it to our tenants to get our homes up to the Decent Homes standard as soon as possible.
We must have homes which can be kept warm and clean, where our elderly and our families can live positive lives.
It may involve the council having to make some difficult choices to achieve it, but it will be worth it in the future.
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