Forum Topic

Housing Crisis! What crisis?

Is there a housing crisis in Ealing? Yes. What is the evidence? Surely the "beds in sheds" initiative indicates there is a desperate need and free market forces appear able to satisfy that demand. However the "beds in sheds" initiative is certainly better at housing those at the "bottom of the heap" than the government or Ealing Council. Using figures from Ealing's Planning Policy Team's Annual Monitoring Report (extracted by West Ealing Neighbours) of the 265 new homes built in Ealing last year only 73 were "affordable" (a technical term) and of those only 6 yes ONLY 6 were social rented homes. This is of some embarrassment to officers because they used to send this as part of an ebulletin to those of us who were interested. Now they have stopped. Some of Ealing's Regeneration and Planning Team are off to the MIPIM property fair in Cannes to attempt to improve this number of 6. Who knows why they go there and what if anything it achieves. They need look no further than across the Uxbridge Road from their office windows. I think I could fit 24 Park Homes onto the cinema site. Do it now. It would solve two problems. Not only would families be housed but "The Empire would Strike Back" soon enough. The park homes could be towed off to some other miscreant.... Daniel's Department Store site? And what about empty properties. Oh yes (and I never found out why) Ealing paid £1.7million for the YMCA building in Bond Street. Fit it out and rehouse the displaced "beds in sheds" occupants. Empty offices same thing. There is a crisis. Just do it now. For Ealing's officers this is what you do in a crisis not swan off to Cannes on your bikes paid for by goodness knows who to broker goodness knows what. Better to go to Japan and see how they have rehoused people after the tsunami. Here there is a housing crisis. Deal with it.    

Arthur Breens ● 5216d12 Comments

Eric,There may well be many empty properties just as there are many housing plots with planning consent but no one ready to build anything in the forseeable future. There are a variety of explanations for these observable facts. Half the flats in the Dickens Yard development have been bought by overseas mationals/millionaires and may probably never be lived in. And as for Andy's housing crisis what crisis?He has little evidence Eric and/or he won't come back in a substantive way

Arthur Breens ● 5205d

Andy,Where is the data to support your 'tens of thousands of vacant flats' argument?

Eric Alan Leach ● 5206d

I've never bought into the 'property shortage' and 'housing crisis' argument.  Just walk along most shopping streets and look above the shops.  In the country as a whole, there must be tens of thousands of vacant flats. True, living above a shop is not ideal, but, I really don't believe the yarn that there is a housing shortage.

Andy Horridge ● 5207d

I have been peddling my "housing crisis" message and friends have come up with some good suggestions. The best so far (and not likely to affect Brendon Walsh's property shenanigans) is the scandal of empty properties. If these were refurbished and filled they would improve this figure of 6 properties for rent by a mind-blowing number. Please readers let us have the addresses of empty properties near you. There is a legal facility for the council to take these over and presumably to use them to chip away at the 13000 on the housing list. Crisis what crisis?

Arthur Breens ● 5208d

That article focuses on "public sector lobbying". It's interesting that the govt is putting so much focus on that. Perhaps it's to make people think Cameron is making good on his pledge to open up the lobbying industry to public scrutiny, so that its corruption of democracy is laid bare. This article on another popular political blog suggests he's not being quite as harsh on his lobbyist mates as one might expect: http://www.leftfootforward.org/2012/01/statutory-lobbying-register/(the article in my link is from a blog politically opposed to the one in the previous post. I'd take both with a pinch of salt as both place ideology over reality).

M. Duley ● 5211d

Housing crisis?Dickens Yard might offer some clues.Ealing Council tenants who are over 55 are being offered new flats for rent at Dickens Yard. The rent they pay will probably be a little bit higher than their current rent. However the 'crisis' information is that tenants will have to pay a weekly service charge of £30 to £40 ie up to £2,000 per year!Still if you are looking to buy a two bedroom flat, Flat 218 at Dickens Yard is still available for £1,400,000. Exactly which particular local housing problem this property is addressing is not immediately obvious.

Eric Alan Leach ● 5211d

http://conservativehome.blogs.com/localgovernment/2010/08/pickles-announces-new-restrictions-on-public-sector-lobbying.htmlHave never seen this website before. Makes interesting reading however on tightening up lobbying - possibly.Makes you wonder if our Regen team should be reporting more openly. Fodder for Arthur perhaps?

George Knox ● 5215d

My apologies for the accusation.

Keith Iddon ● 5215d

I don't like it either. But just to be contrarian, if you are an event manager and you want to put up as many big developers all round Europe as you can muster with the object of meeting 33 Regen chiefs all from London say, then, as they are strapped for cash you throw in free accommodation etc. Also the Regen chiefs are all competing to get developers into their borough rather than than the one next door and so they undoubtedly will go at someone else's expense.Presumably the Regen chiefs will do as much as they can to pave the way for planning permission but Legally and not corruptly.Proving corruption even under the new Bribery legislation is a whole different ball game. What we would all much rather see is the bids going to English construction companies only. But it's the EU as usual that probably gets in the way of this.What I want to know is by how much will Ealing benefit GDP wise if massive buildings are put up in the centre when now we have so much vacant commercial property empty.What does Mr Bell know about regeneration?

George Knox ● 5215d

At work, we have all had to do an anti-corruption course which implies no jollies allowed. perhaps sadnwiches and refreshments being supplied to a meeting are the only allowed. so this for Cannes arrangement would break all the rules that should apply.

Peter Chadburn ● 5215d

Kieth,Thankyou for this. The jolly in Cannes IS NOT FUNDED BY THE TAX PAYER. Our salaried officers are all expenses paid to go by third parties. Well how wierd is that? Talk about conflict of interest with no checks and balances.

Arthur Breens ● 5215d

Well said Arthur.It may be just possible that the coucncil don't do anything about the sheds as they are frightened of the amount of people living in them that they would have to house in b&b etc. I think to that some of these 'sheds',tho'probably a small %,are of the 'pied a terre' variety and actually not bad.It is just that they have been built illegally.Smacks of a nice little jolly to the south of France, taxpayer funded of course.

Keith Iddon ● 5216d