Its aim is to cut Tower Hamlets Council’s mammoth waiting list with 28,000 families in the queue — set against a population explosion with numbers rocketing more than any other local authority area in the UK.
The programme agreed by the council is focussing on family-size properties for social rent.
“Too many families are living in overcrowded or unsuitable conditions,” Tower Hamlets mayor Lutfur Rahman admitted.
“Inadequate housing blights lives and affects everything from health and education to employment and life expectancy.
“But we are on track to exceed the target of 4,000 new homes with our boldest step yet to meet housing needs, particularly for family homes.”
This is on top of the existing schedule for 4,000 rental properties to be ready by next May, with the mayor claiming to be able to exceed the target.
The council has voted for a budget of £8million to kickstart the house-building.
Other funding is coming from planning levies on commercial developers and the council “taking full advantage” of the government’s £38billion earmarked for ‘affordable’ housing announced in its June spending review.
The East End’s need for new homes has never been more critical.
There were almost 28,900 households on the waiting list at the end of July, including 13,200 in overcrowded conditions with 2,670 “severely overcrowded”.
There were 3,220 homeless families put up in temporary accommodation and 600 needing rehousing for medical reasons.
The housing crisis is made worse by a rapidly growing population that is forecast to rise another 70,000 in this decade alone — from 324,000 in 2022 to 390,000 by 2032, according to the Office for National Statistics.
