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Wolfson House |
Family flats threat to pensioners
Fresh blueprints for sheltered housing add to fears people will be forced out
FEARS that pensioners will be turfed out of their Pimlico sheltered housing to build affordable homes have been fuelled by plans for replacement two-bed flats.
Architect’s drawings seen by the West End Extra were obtained by Peter Green, who is spearheading the campaign to keep builders away from Wolfson. He says the specifications, which increase the number of two-bed flats from one to eight, clearly favour families over elderly people living alone.
The number of flats will be cut from 36 to 32 if redevelopment goes ahead.
Residents feel the move flies in the face of the housing association’s commitment to let everyone return once the work is finished. Now, only one family – a second world war veteran and his sister – live in a flat with more than one bedroom.
More than 30 tenants fighting to stay in Wolfson House have been sceptical of Sanctuary Hereward housing since learning the block was being primed for modernisation in February.
Sanctuary Hereward said there is no plan for the block to be anything other than sheltered accommodation and that the number of two-bedroom flats reflects the increasing numbers of couples living longer..
But residents may have to move from Pilmlico out after Sanctuary’s director confessed there is not enough space for them all in their other Westminster property, Dean Abbott House.
Resident Peter Green, 76, branded the plans “unfit for purpose”, saying they casted serious doubt over promises to maintain sheltered housing on the site.
“The plans clearly show a reduction in the number of flats. Everyone in here lives on their own. What good is a two bed flat to someone living on their own. It just doesn’t add up.
“To me it looks like they want to build affordable homes or at least replace some sheltered housing with affordable homes.
“The biggest question is where are we all going to go.
“Even if it does remain sheltered housing, there still wont be enough room for us. It makes a mockery of any promise we can all stay.”
Since Sanctuary told the 36-flat block in February about of the proposals, some residents have complained that the uncertainty is making them ill.
Aside from demolition and redevelopment, other proposals involving partial refurbishment of the 1980’s building have been floated. When the consultation closes in October, should Sanctuary choose redevelopment it will have to rehouse residents.
Nick Abbey, group director for housing at Sanctuary said: “I want everyone to be assured we are being open and transparent.
“For medical reasons, a lot of them may not be able to sleep in the same bedroom. In 10 years we may have 100-year-olds wanting to live with their 80-year-old child.” |
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