“People need and deserve high quality, genuinely affordable housing,” says Newham’s mayor.

Cardboard boxes in front of a cafe — Photo: Mickey Ambrose

The new government will make a big difference for people who live and work in Newham – particularly those hit by the housing crisis, says Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz.

She says Newham will be able to turn the page on years of neglect and underfunding that has seen it become the worst place in the country for homelessness.

Welcoming the new government’s pledge to increase the number of affordable homes to be built, and the protection of rights of those who rent their homes, the Mayor said: “Newham is well placed to work at the vanguard of this change due to our existing track record.”

One model of partnership to combat the homes crisis is the development plan for West Ham where this month the Mayor joined a ceremony for the first phase of the housing development in the area.

This is a joint project between Berkeley Homes, the Greater London Authority and Peabody, and will transform the area around West Ham station. Phase one will deliver over 1,000 affordable homes.

The Mayor says that the government’s new Planning and Infrastructure bill will streamline and speed up planning and infrastructure work to get more housing built.

“Newham is one of the fastest growing, youngest, and most diverse boroughs in the country,” said the Mayor. “We have more than 351,000 people living here and we are the third fastest growing borough in London. Our people need and deserve high quality, genuinely affordable housing.”

She says the Borough is already delivering one of the most ambitious house building and acquisition programmes anywhere in London.

“We have delivered more than 1,000 genuinely affordable homes in the past two years as part of our Building a Fairer Newham programme.”

In July new developments were also launched in East Ham and Manor Park. “When they are completed together these two schemes will deliver more than 1,056 affordable homes and a further 25 low cost shared ownership homes, with residents expected to move into the first 110 of these by the end of this year,” she said.

However, building houses will not be enough to solve the local homeless crisis. In the last year alone there was a 16 percent increase in homelessness in Newham.

“The sheer scale of the housing crisis means that we can’t build our way out of the crisis – the homes simply won’t be delivered fast enough,” she said.

For that reason the government’s Renters’ Rights Bill is crucial, she says. This will abolish “no fault” evictions, and will have an immediate and dramatic effect on the number of families who are made homeless and will reduce the number of households in temporary accommodation.

Ten years ago Newham had just 2,877 households in temporary accommodation, today the number is 6,685. “This situation cannot be allowed to continue,” says Fiaz.

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