Greenwich Council agree on sites for 52 new council homes
Greenwich Council have agreed on a number of sites to build 52 council homes across the borough.
In addition a number of sites on a long list are not being progressed as part of the Greenwich Builds Phase 2 programme covering Years 2 & 3.
Sites to progress are:
A total of 16 sites are not progressing which can be seen below.
Langton Way is to be disposed of to Anchor Hanover and redeveloped to deliver extra care units.
Funding for these homes is split with £10,472,000 from a Greater London Authority grant and £9,640,138 from Housing Revenue Account borrowing. Greenwich state “The HRA borrowing is to be financed from the rental income generated by the units developed.”
While 52 homes will be welcome to alleviate the extraordinarily expensive use of B&Bs and short term private lettings it won’t go far given the borough has 2,000 households in temporary accommodation.
Still, given the vast costs of using private providers for temporary housing these 52 homes will save money over the long term.
Small sites
While previous phases of Greenwich Builds included sites with far more homes, recent stages are much smaller in scale.
The plan now under the current government is to partner more with private developers, though Public private Partnerships have a track record of being very slow with more bureaucracy and long-winded discussions before a single brick is laid.
In addition much funding is used to buy existing housing rather than building new homes, which does little to increase overall housing totals for a growing population. It does however put existing private renters at risk of eviction, reduce private rented stock and homes for first time buyers.
