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Islington Tribune - by TOM FOOT
Published: 29 August 2008

Mayor Boris Johnson

Boris bashes homes target

Tories call for switch from ‘rabbit hutch’-style flats to family-sized houses

BORIS Johnson has defended his decision to axe the 50 per cent affordable homes target, claiming the scheme had done nothing to redress Islington’s chronic housing crisis.
The Mayor of London said the one-size-fits-all approach – a legally binding policy penalising councils which failed to ensure half the homes in new developments were affordable – had not worked in Islington.
Mr Johnson, who lives in Highbury, wants to introduce housing agreements tailor-made for individual London borough. Responding this week to a question from Conservative London Assembly member Andrew Boff, Mr Johnson said: “I am confident that removing the previous mayor’s one-size-fits-all target will enable not just Islington, but all London boroughs, to deliver the level and mix of affordable housing that best meets local and London-wide need.”
He pointed out that, of the 3,123 new homes built in Islington between 2003 and 2007, 38 per cent were classed as “affordable”. Just over 200 homes each year were allocated to the social-rented sector.
Richard Bunting, deputy chairman of Islington Conservatives, said the race to meet targets meant too few family homes had been built.
He added: “We need a housing policy that encourages the building of family-based dwellings, rather than the rabbit-hutch style flats we seem to be building at present.”
Councillor James Murray, Islington Labour’s spokesman on the environment, said: “Islington Labour wants the council to build more social housing. But now Tory Mayor Boris Johnson has scrapped the target and said Islington Council can be let off the hook.
“This is very bad news for the 13,000 families on Islington’s housing waiting list. My Labour colleagues and I will fight the Tories’ plans.”

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