Ealing Council’s cabinet has approved plans to help tackle the borough’s affordable housing crisis by building hundreds more homes to let.
This week, the sites discussed and approved for development will include more than 300 new homes. Of these, 181 will be council homes to let. This will consist of 71 homes specifically designed for older people on the Steyne Road estate in Acton; a five-storey block of 84 homes at the site of the former Northolt Grange community centre; and a four-storey block of 26 flats in Sussex Crescent, Northolt.
Eight other new homes at Northolt Grange and 117 further homes at Steyne Road will be available as shared ownership – to help people get on the housing ladder – or will be sold. As well as the proceeds of these sales, the council homes are part-funded by a proportion of a £ 99 million grant from the Greater London Authority.
Work is expected to get underway at all three sites in March and will likely be completed between late 2024 and early 2026.
The new homes will help alleviate a surging crisis in affordable housing in the borough. All will be let at rents priced to suit the budgets of local people on low to moderate incomes.
The council has experienced a significant rise in the number of families at risk of becoming homeless and having nowhere else to turn.
More and more households cannot access the private rental market after the big jump in inflation, government decisions around rent levels, and the restoration of Section 21 ‘no-fault’ evictions that had been paused during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Average private rents have gone up 10 per cent in the last six months alone, and our borough has almost doubled the rate of households threatened with homelessness compared to the London average.
The council supports those households through homelessness prevention services, advice about benefits, and help to pay their bills. But it also addresses one of the root causes of the problem – a lack of affordable homes in the borough.
Ealing Council is leading London in terms of council homebuilding. In data published by the Greater London Authority, Ealing is consistently among the top-performing boroughs in London for new, genuinely affordable homes. With more than 11,000 families waiting for a council home in Ealing, these new homes in Acton and Northolt will help reduce the gap between supply and demand.
Councillor Peter Mason is the leader of the council. He said: “London’s affordable housing crisis has left many hardworking people without a place to call their own. That’s why we’re running one of London’s biggest council homebuilding programmes, and I am pleased that these three sites will be progressing over the next few years.
“We know what a huge difference these safe, secure, affordable and energy-efficient flats and houses will make to the families who move into them. From Northolt to Acton, and everywhere in between, we’re delivering award-winning new homes that will help us close the gap between supply and demand.”
Councillor Shital Manro is the council’s lead member for good growth: “We are determined to deliver the new affordable homes that Ealing urgently needs.
“Brexit, the pandemic, the war in Ukraine and the national financial turmoil caused by the government last autumn have created very difficult economic conditions. However, we are determined to continue to deliver for Ealing residents in spite of the challenging climate, and we are confident that we can continue building the homes that will stop local families being priced out of their communities.”
All cabinet decisions are subject to a call-in period.
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