London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan wants 10,000 private homes in the capital to be brought into the social rental sector within 10 years.
His new Council Homes Acquisition Programme (CHAP) will give councils access to funds to purchase homes from the private market.
Khan claims over 170,000 Londoners are currently living in insecure temporary accommodation, including more than 83,000 children, with many families stuck in unsuitable bed and breakfast accommodation.
This accounts for one in 23 children in the capital.
All London boroughs will be able to bid for funding from the new programme.
All homes funded through CHAP must comply with the Decent Homes Standard and meet strict building safety standards.
Homes will also need to be within boroughs’ boundaries to ensure residents can stay rooted in their local communities.
Local authorities will be able to purchase a wide range of homes from the private market, including former council homes lost to Right to Buy, which Khan believes over the past four decades has driven down London’s overall number of council homes.
CHAP follows Khan’s Right to Buy-back scheme which saw over 1,200 homes acquired by councils.
He says: “I’ve put council housing at the heart of my plan to boost homebuilding in the capital, and I’m proud that we’re now building more council homes in London than at any time since the 1970s – and more than the rest of the country combined.
“My new Council Homes Acquisition Programme will allow boroughs to move at pace to increase the number of council homes in our city, offering a lifeline for thousands of Londoners who are facing high housing costs, as the first part of my ambitious goal for councils to buy 10,000 homes over the next decade.
“I will continue to take decisive steps to address the social housing crisis, stemming the tide of loss and replenishing London’s council house stock. Bringing these homes into public ownership is a key part of my plan to build a better London for everyone – a city that is greener, fairer and more prosperous for all.”
A statement from Khan’s office, launching the CHAP initiative, says that under his leadership “London has entered a golden era of council housebuilding.”
Khan claims since 2018 some 23,000 council homes have been built – or are being built – with the help of his funding.
He says London has completed more homes of all types in recent years than at any time since the 1930s and delivered higher council homebuilding than at any time since the 1970s – more than the rest of the country combined.
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Sadsack Khan is delusional. Where is the money coming from for this? His ULEZ fines are not raising that much, surely?
I can bet he is raising a lot of 💰💰 also why is he buying private houses at market rate and still selling off council housing at a discount 🤔🤔
For wanting to sort out a housing shortage it's about time.
SBR is up early. Must be signing on day.
Annoyed, I don't think they do physical meetings anymore? I thought it was all done online. She can lay in bed, on her iPad, with her latte and avocado on toast signing in for free money.
Exactly where is this magic money tree of his?
I guess it's theoretically cheaper than paying for hotels and temporary housing. Presumably most of the money will be borrowed so it's only the interest and property maintenance that needs to be paid plus all the Council workers salaries and gold plated pensions. If they charge a realistic rent it may be a good idea but Councils don't exactly have a good track record on charging enough to properly maintain their housing stock.
I like that idea, but need to be implemented across the country. 10000 is not enough to cover London. It is much better than paying billions on hotels. He should incentivise landlords to sell to councils by giving them a break on capital gains to sell to council. As for funding, where there is a will, there is a way.
Apart from the obvious question of where his £4 BILLION is coming from if we say an average London home is 400k X 10,000.
I presume Dianne Abbott has lent him her calculator, anyway buying back all these old ex-council houses from whom exactly?? Most people sold up and fled their neighbours once the 3 years restriction on selling was up, and Housing Associations were the majority buyers as no one in their right mind wanted to move to a sink estate....And where do these existing occupant's live?? Or have these house just all been sat empty...
So once again we have fantasy economic promises to try and get re-elected and try and distract the poor from the fact they've lost their car and their city is overrun by feral gangs....
170’000 spongers living off the System the next step to get housed by the Council / the same tax payers that’s paying to keep them in B & B and expensive Hotels reported to be costing £1.7b (low figure). The same tax payers that’s paying for their NHS, Children Allowance, Schooling, Uniforms, Travel, Meals etc. The same tax payers that pays for their Legal Aid.
So those Private Properties bought with Private Finance currently housing millions of those tax payers are to lose their Accommodation and it to be given to people who contribute nothing in preference to the current occupants who go to work and pay for everything including travel for work and their own Legal Aid. Removal of 10’000 private homes also means loosing Billions of £’s to the Treasury that Private Landlords pay on their Rental income every year. I personally have pay hundreds of thousands over the years is this my thanks and still working I actually installed 4 No. fantastic double glazed replacement windows yesterday Sunday and all it was.
At least it will be 10’000 homes that won’t need a License loosing billions more as its likely the occupants will be non contributors. No use blaming 80’000 Children it’s not their fault they have rubbish Parents.
Have Mr Sadiq any more sponges ideas this is a Big one following on from ULEZ.
Would it be in Order for me to suggest putting him on the first Plane to Rwanda. Whatever we say about Trump he had his measure.
Well said. I think the state is breeding sponges. They teach them it's okay to be that way at school. They are busy importing them across the channel. There's no sense of shame anymore.
There points:
1. Odd properties here & there are not ideal for councils to manage
2. It doesn't increase number of units so whilst it may get some out of TA it may put others in it
3. Councils sold off their housing stock because they didn't want to maintain it!
Shuffling deckchairs on the Titanic comes to mind.
Exactly.
The rents that these Housing Association's charge is not enough to cover ongoing maintenance.
The homes most likely to have major problems with damp etc, all seem to be administered by them.
I know that that is the case in my area and they are not subject to the massive overregulation that we as private landlords have to endure.
Unfortunately Britain is basically bankrupt, look at the figures!
True the country is bankrupt.
One giant Ponzi scheme that will all come to an end when the foreigners decide that they don't want to buy our debt anymore. Sell up and buy gold to extricate yourselves from the pack of cards Ponzi. This is not financial advise. Just what I've done.
My friend is a strong advocate of Bitcoin. I can see some sense. A company called MicroStrategy has taken to storing it's money as Bitcoin due to the endless money printing by the government. But that could all be a scam and collapse one day. Some people say it's worth €0.
Edwin I suppose you are right they took when the Country was a trillion in debt, and have managed to increase the debt to three billion.
Pat, you sound like another landlord that wants out but prevented by the Capital Gains tax blocker.
Michael, weather we like it or not, the PRS is being killed off to accommodate the build to rent brigade by the conservative and is supported by life of envy Labour.
We need social housing stock - that is a fact. This will help the old landlords to retire and keep more of their money and help the councils get more desperately needed council homes. Any policy worth pursuing has to benefit both parties. It is all well and good worrying about how much HMRC will be loosing on CGT, the government will be gaining by not using Hotels and paying exorbitant prices for an accommodation which isn't fit for purpose. I think it is one of the most humane way of dealing with this problem. Only because the government and councils are incapable of building new council housing stock.
Yes Micheal and we have a massive balance of payments deficit. Three trillion public sector debt l think hink you mean. Unless Sunak goes their will be a Wipeout of the conservative vote.
When I lived on a private Barratts estate in West Ham. Approx half the properties were bought up by a housing association. It was easy to tell which was which by looking at the cars on the drive. Owner occupiers usually 2nd hand 4-5 years old. Benefits crowd. Latest model, anything up to Range Rovers with new BMW's being very popular.
I don't know how they do it on benefits.
Probably claiming and working in the 'black economy' for cash with no questions asked, Nick.
Good for Khan I hope it works out.
You would like to live on a social housing sink estate with dross next door would you Sandra?
@ Andrew, Birds of a feather etc . . .
Sandy B, busy this morning. Working up your blood pressure?
Sandra I would not get your hopes up. Wanting to buy is one thing, having the funds is completely different.
He should be putting a case forward to get Government land or buildings and either building new properties to live in or converting existing buildings into suitable residential accommodation.
This is a gimmick and enough of my time wasted on it!
Somehow Sadiq's maths does not add up. 170,000 Londoners currently living in hotels. 10,000 properties in 10 years equates to 1000 properties each year. 170,000 Londoners, say about 5 in a family, single parent with 4 children or married couple with 3 children, equates to about 34,000 properties required now, 1000 properties will not cut it at all. There will always be increasing housing needs each year, as single mums' daughters become single mums and the trend continues. How about Sadiq spending money to educate single mums and their children. Have specialist teachers for them in the main stream schools. Has he got any vision at all. Thinking of housing shortage is not just for today. How about educating social tenants through proper guidelines and providing incentives to social parents/tenants. In the long run, this will go a long way. Incentivise landlords to sell to them is great as Pat suggested through no or small capital gains tax.
Maybe 170,000 spongers need to be sent to Rwanda. How many of them are able workers? How many continue to breed without a permanent partners? Demographics (are available)need to be studied carefully and eradicate the cause of social housing where possible. Get single mothers back to work by providing their children a free or reduced care places, where the children learn the importance of social behaviour and work ethics, after school or during pre-school.
I bet Bowes-Rennox is an able worker. But she claims PIP and god knows what else. All supported by the state throwing money at her. But ungrateful as benefit claimants usually are they are hard done by.
How about teaching the doctrine of the stable nuclear family. A man and a woman staying together for the sake of the family. Back to a stable society pre-mass immigration 1948. The country has been in decline since the First World War.
@Thehairy Piker My wife and I have one son. While I went to work my wife stayed at home bringing up our son, even though I was close to minimum wage. When he was at school she managed to work part time during school hours. We never used any child care facilities, not even any babysitters. Our son was so well behaved we could take him out to a restaurant from a very young age. He lived at home until he could buy his first house at the age of 27.
@John Young, same with my late parents. Mother went for part-time summer work when I was twelve and could go to one of two grandparents after school. As I got older and more responsible, she was able to go full-time.
If you read the housing today article on CHAP it says, grants for councils are for £85,000 for a temporary accommodation unit and £200,000 for a social rent unit so that buys the hallway of an average london property, where is the rest coming from? It certainly wont be council reserves, they dont have 2 brass farthings to rub together, or does Mr Khan expect londoners to give their properties away at these prices? Not for the first time, this hasnt been thought through has it?
So if you are a Council home renter in London you can still buy your Council property in London and get a £130,000 discount, but the Council is then going to buy another property at full price to make up for a shortage of homes ? Seems like a great idea for wasting public money.
It's that a politicians job? To waste public money?
Wealth redistribution to Kahn's constituents.
I wouldn’t mind moving to Rwanda , better weather, less migrants, cheaper housing, what’s not to like ?
Sadiq Khan to buy 10,000 private homes to become social rent properties
If ever there was a headline that was misleading and needed re writing, this is it.
Sadiq Khan will never be buying 10,000 houses, he has no money. The money will be from tax payers via various quangos which will each take a slice until there's not enough left to buy anything.
I think with this CHAPS scheme and the councils having no money Khan maybe better wearing Assless Chaps and seeing how much he can raise....
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