More affordable homes needed for Hackney families, says MP

Meg Hillier, Labour MP for Hackney South and Shoreditch raised the issue of severely overcrowded housing in Hackney with the Minister for Housing during the adjournment debate on Affordable Housing in London. Meg stressed the need to increase the supply of large homes for affordable rent.

Meg said: “Hackney is the third most severely overcrowded area in the country. As many as 9.1 per cent of homes in Hackney are overcrowded-8,000 households. The vast majority are in social housing, 12.3 per cent are in registered social landlord properties, and nearly 5 per cent of that overcrowding is severe”.

Meg Hillier call the Minister to look closer into the matter of the efficiency of Housing Corporation funding, which is based on the cost per home rather than on the number of people living in those homes. She hopes this will encourage Registered Social Landlords to build larger family housing.

“Housing associations and registered social landlords are still building properties that are too small. There are too many one and two-bedroom units and not enough three or four-bedroom units”, said Meg. “I hope the London housing strategy will be revised soon to help families in Hackney living in overcrowded homes”.

Contact: Office of Meg Hillier MP, 020 7219 5325, stachowskam@parliament.uk

Notes for editors:

Meg also flagged up for the Minister the transfer of the Haggerston West and Kingsland estate and the need for intermediate housing.

Surveys show that 40 per cent of new social housing in London should have four or more bedrooms, but only 6 per cent of housing built in the past 10 years has that.

For more information on housing in London please visit www.shelter.org.uk or contact Shelter’s Public Affairs Manager Marc Francis on 020 7505 2052 or Marc_Francis@shelter.org.uk