Southwark Labour Vote Down Chance to Boost Affordable Housing, Restrict New Empty Homes

Southwark Labour voted down a Liberal Democrat amendment at Wednesday’s council assembly that would have boosted affordable housing and restricted new empty homes.

The amendment asked the council to demand 50% genuinely affordable housing on all private developments.

It pushed the council, as well, to introduce a policy where new developments would only get planning permission for properties where occupancy is only for primary residence.

This would result in residents of new buildings having to prove they spend most of their time in the property, as opposed to allowing it to become empty or a second home.

In an attempt to revamp the council’s housing approach, the amendment also called for the authority to measure success based on how much it reduces its waiting list.                                                                           

Southwark Labour partially base housing goals on when construction of a property begins and once promised to start or build 2,500 council homes by May 2022.

Internal correspondence from August, nonetheless, shows that the target for the actual completion of these homes is not until 2025-26.

Focusing policy on reducing the council housing waiting list would be more holistic and would aim to more accurately measure the effectiveness of home-building.

Commenting, Cllr Emily Tester, Southwark Liberal Democrat Housing Spokesperson said: “Labour’s housing strategy is crumbling like the estates many of our residents live in. We need a serious rethink of how to tackle a housing crisis that has led to over 17,000 households on our homes waiting list. Currently, Labour would much rather give in to developers than implement radical policies that would help our residents afford to stay in this borough”