Good housing - Waltham Forest Labour

Good housing: ensuring a decent roof over your head

We said we would:

Deliver 1000 council homes by 2026
Prioritising housing estates for climate action
Raise standards in the private rented sector with our licensing scheme

Two years in, how are we doing?

Some external factors have complicated things….

Our economy has given us:

High interest rates dramatically increasing the cost of borrowing
Increased cost of building
The scrapping of the Help to Buy Scheme
Material shortages
Labour market shortages in the construction industry
Sub-contractors, contractors and developers going into administration
Local government finances in crisis
One of the worst housing crises we ever seen since the Second World War

But we’ve adapted to the situation.

Labour is delivering in Waltham Forest with more to come:

Built 300 social homes and 600 affordable homes

Social homes are provided by the council or housing associations, set at a rent decided by the Council. They are offered to those on the Council’s waiting list. Affordable Rent homes are capped at 60% of the local market rate.

Won £1.4m to decarbonise our social homes, lowering bills

£1.4 million for social housing decarbonisation will allow us to improve the energy performance of Council owned street properties in the borough. This will lead to reductions in carbon emissions as well as cheaper fuel bills for council tenants.

Cleared the housing repairs backlog and piloting housing repair surgeries

We’re working with our housing repairs contractor to ensure every repair is fixed in a timely manner. We have cleared the backlog created by Covid but are now working hard to resolve new issues reported.

Invested £500k in a damp and mould taskforce

Recent events mean damp and mould cases are of utmost urgency. Our repairs team is working to expedite these cases and make sure no resident is living with damp and mould in a Council home.

Improving cross-department working to help residents with multiple issues

Residents’ concerns don’t exist in isolation, so neither should our response. It is more efficient and effective to work across different council departments to address as many issues as possible for our residents.

Created the Housing Sustainment Team to help residents at risk of eviction

This is a specialist team to help residents are at risk of eviction. The team also offers income maximisation so residents can be supported to receive every type of financial aid they may be eligible for.

We’ve been working hard behind the scenes, changing how we work:

Launched the Affordable Housing Commission to discover new ways of building more affordable homes

A panel of experts provided recommendations about how we can build even more low rent housing in our borough

Developed a new Housing Strategy

Our strategy prioritises climate action on our estates and in our council homes and sets out how we will help even more residents

Reviewing our current projects in the economic context

Making sure our commitments are financially responsible and we are attracting inward investment

Supporting private renters through our private rental sector licensing scheme

Helping these residents to lodge complaints against unfair or bad decisions by landlords

We’re campaigning for changes to government policy:

Lobbied the Chancellor to unfreeze the Local Housing Allowance rate twice and was successful in the Autumn Statement.
Lobbied the Secretary of State for Housing to end no fault evictions as part of the Renters Reform Bill.
Lobbied the Secretary of State for Housing about the Decent Homes Standard and the importance of ensuring a standardised decent home standard across all types of tenancy.

We’re making our voice heard to government in other ways:

Responded to the government’s Leasehold Bill consultation asking for legal powers to act against large landlords and management companies.
Currently responding to the government’s Damp and Mould consultation asking for additional council resources to keep properties free from damp and mould.