Islington News: Boleyn Road | Armour Close | 14 Homes | Terry Stacy

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Islington Tribune - by TOM FOOT
Published: 8 August 2008

On site: Terry Stacy and HFI board director Theresa Coyle

Homes for families on the waiting list

Work starts on first council housing for 25 years

A RAY of hope was offered to thousands of families lodged in Islington’s chronic housing crisis when works to build the first council homes in Islington for 25 years started this week.
The 14 affordable homes – in Boleyn Road and Armour Close – will go straight to families on the council’s 14,000-strong waiting list.
Islington is one of the first council’s in London to start building council homes again and if the £10million pilot is a success more are in the pipeline.
Councillor Terry Stacy, lead member for housing and communities, said: “This is great news. We are taking the initiative because we know there are many Islington families waiting in overcrowded accommodation. The population is rising and many cannot afford to buy their own home.
“We want all our residents to have somewhere decent to live which is why we are spending millions improving existing accommodation and building new homes.
“New-build alone won’t solve the housing crisis, that’s why we are also putting money into extensions, reconverting flats back into family-sized homes, tackling under-occupancy and releasing private homes kept empty by their owners into the rental market.”
The £10million funding has been pooled from the sale of council-owned buildings, PFI contracts and other major planning applications, including the office development in Finsbury.
The homes will be run by Homes for Islington, the council’s arms-length management organisation. The move comes as the government announced more funding for council housing would be given to the country’s best-rated almos. HFI has been awarded a special three-star rating from the Audit Commission.
The new buildings – designed to be environmentally friendly with special energy-saving features – will be let on secure tenancies, where the tenant has the right to buy. The council believes the market value will put the homes “out of reach” for most tenants wanting to buy them.
Islington North MP Jeremy Corbyn said: “I welcome all new council housing developments that will help tackle chronic overcrowding. But at the same time I would call on the council to halt its policy of selling off vacant properties to fund the development. The Mayor of London must change his mind on abandoning the 50 per cent target for affordable homes in new developments.
“I am also supporting the government to release more money to housing associations to buy up empty private sector housing to build more affordable homes.”

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