An Affordable Housing Fund (AHF) will be created as a result of 'in lieu' payments from local development that is pooled. When enough funds are accumulated they can be used to fund specific new housing schemes, often in conjunction with Housing Associations.
"London faces an affordable housing crisis. In Southwark the number of households waiting for council or social housing is already over 20,000 and growing every month," said Peter John, leader of Southwark Council.
"The recession and government welfare policies appear set only to contribute further to our borough’s need for more good quality affordable housing, whilst cuts to national housing budgets mean that national assistance to build new affordable homes has decreased. Without national direction we must take local action," said John.
The AHF is a funding mechanism used to deliver new affordable council homes. This can be achieved by the Council directly funding new homes, by supporting regeneration programmes that plan to deliver "truly" affordable units and by the delivery of specialist and care housing, the report (298-page / 9.9MB PDF) to cabinet said.
Southwark Council has agreed to increase the size of that stock "with homes with genuinely affordable rents, not the 80% of market rents that the Government has defined ‘affordable’", said John.
The first proposed site for new homes is at the former Borough and Bankside housing office site in Long Lane, Borough. Consultation on the building of 25 to 30 new homes on the site will begin after a report is submitted to the council’s cabinet this month.
Following agreement of the cabinet, the Council now plans to produce a report which would set out a range of delivery options for new affordable council homes including financial appraisal of these options, which is planned to be published in September.
