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Reality behind homes target
• MANY consider Ken Livingstone’s target of 50 per cent affordable housing in any new development, as set out in his London Plan, admirable, even though, to meet actual need, a realistic target would have to be nearer 70 per cent and the target for 35 per cent social rented housing (housing association homes) would have to be 60 per cent.
With that in mind the proposed housing scheme in Central Street is worthy of scrutiny, in order to see what is actually being achieved and what exactly working-class council tenants in Finsbury will get in return for giving up their housing office (Housing office will shut to make way for flats‚ May 25).
First, the scheme falls short of the 50 per cent affordable housing target. But even the Tribune’s suggestion that 42 per cent of the homes built in the new development will be affordable may prove hugely optimistic.
The amount of social housing in this development will be just 44 homes (out of 274), amounting to only 16.1 per cent of the development, and these homes will all be squeezed into just one of the proposed seven blocks of flats.
Forty-four working-class families then will be housed on the site alongside a potential 450 high-wage earners. Interestingly, the entrance to their homes will be from Seward Street, while those better off will access their homes from the internal courtyard.
That aside, this matter of percentages is more than a bit complicated as it appears the percentages of affordable housing are now calculated, not in terms of numbers of housing units, but instead in terms of numbers of habitable rooms (that is generally bedrooms and living rooms).
And only by doing this does the original 16.1 per cent suddenly grow to look like 24 per cent.
By the time they have added in “intermediate housing”, which is also described as affordable (even though it is unaffordable to the vast majority, and for the most part bought up by buy-to-let landlords) a possible 29 per cent of the number of units could be transformed into 42 per cent of the habitable rooms on the site.
Whatever way you choose to look at it, we are it appears being conned once again.
BEN MACKMURDIE
Independent Working Class Association, WC1
• THE housing office in Central Street, Finsbury, is vital for the community, particularly for pensioners and people on low incomes, and it is untrue that it is being shut down.
Three years from now, the site of the housing office will be developed for the creation of about 275 new homes. Much of this will be family housing, and 50 per cent of it will be affordable accommodation which the council will be able to allocate to local residents.
The developer, though, is also obliged to provide space for the housing office within half a mile of its current location, south of City Road. As the local councillor, I’m confident the council and Homes for Islington are committed to providing a locally-based housing service.
The development is a great deal for the council and for local communities. On top of the much-needed housing and a new housing office, the scheme is expected to provide more than £1.8 million for environmental improvements.
The development as a whole, with the inclusion of a prominent housing office, will have a huge impact on the look of the area by replacing existing run-down office buildings with new buildings, which will be designed and built to a high standard.
CLLLR DONNA BOFFA
Lib Dem, Bunhill ward
• AT Finsbury Forum’s regular monthly meeting on May 31 an overwhelming majority of those present condemned plans to demolish Finsbury’s Central Street housing office and other buildings to provide 274 flats and just under 70,000 square feet of commercial space.
Only 42 per cent of the flats will be affordable. On the assumption that a luxury flat takes up twice the space of an affordable flat, this means that less than 27 per cent of the housing gross floor area will be affordable.
This conflicts with council policies, which say that, in applying the 50 per cent affordable housing strategy, “gross floor area may be used if this results in a larger number of affordable units”.
The next meeting of Finsbury Forum is on Thursday, June 28, at 7pm at the Vibast Hall, Old Street.
IVOR KENNA
Acting convener for Finsbury Forum
Compton Street, EC1 |
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