Check out this “Inside Housing” email bulletin.  The title of the actual article is the slightly less controversial “Boris lets Tory council slash social housing”. 

It refers to the decision by Boris’s deputy mayor, Ian Clement, to let Tory Council Hammersmith & Fulham approve a new large development with NO social housing at all.  This was only just weeks after the GLA’s own planners branded it “unacceptable”.  This is in White City, which is an area of massive waiting lists and housing need.  The Council even owns the land. 

In order to alleviate overcrowding developers are usually required to set aside a percentage of new build properties for social housing.  The Tories reckon that the area already has enough social housing in that area so bringing in 100% private ownership will for example reduce “housing benefit” claims. 

I am sure of course that this has nothing to do with past Tory Westminster Council “gerrymandering”.  Obviously reserving this development for only private homebuyers has nothing to do with any attempt by this newly elected Tory Council to get rid of pesky social housing tenants? Who might even (God forbid) vote Labour in local elections?  Of course not!

Read a welcome account in “Inside Housing” about research by the “Equality & Human Rights Commission” into the British housing allocations system.

Unlike the nonsense and “Big lies” pedalled by the BNP, the commission reported categorically that there was “no evidence in the research of any abuse of the system including “queue jumping” to the significant detriment of any group including white families”.

The reality is that “new migrants made up less than 2 per cent of the total number of people in social housing throughout the UK. Around 90 per cent of those living in social housing are born in the UK”.

There is still of course the problem that the perception of “queue jumping” and unfairness still exists. This report will help tackle this mis-perception, although I doubt it has been widely covered in “The Sun” or the “Daily Mail”?

For decades we have also had a corrosive policy of allowing Council homes to be sold under the “right to buy” without these rented homes being replaced. This has led to not only rapidly changing communities but scarcity and perceived competition between communities for homes and shelter.

Thankfully we are now planning to build new homes in London (Ken willing).