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Major house builder sells 102 homes built for market sale to east London council for social housing
A London council has bought 102 new homes originally designated as open market sale to use as affordable housing, Inside Housing can reveal.
The homes, which are spread over three sites, were bought by Newham Council. Forty-three homes are located at Cornwell House in New Market Place, a Barratt development in East Ham.
The borough has signed lease deals with Local Space, a housing association set up by the council, to manage the homes.
Local Space will lease the properties and, in some cases, the whole development, from Newham and take control of management, estate services and customers.
The housing association said it will charge intermediate rents at Local Housing Allowance rates and let the properties to nominees from the council’s homeless list.
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The properties at New Market Place are almost fully occupied, while the other two sites are currently going through the leasing process.
Newham has the highest number of households staying in temporary accommodation in the entire country. This has placed a “significant financial burden” on the council, according to a cabinet report.
At the beginning of April 2023, Newham had 5,883 households staying in temporary accommodation, with 3,198 of these staying in nightly booked properties.
Josie Parsons, chief executive of Local Space, said: “These new lease deals with our long-term partner of over 25 years, the London Borough of Newham, represents the commitment of both organisations to tackle the ongoing housing crisis and challenges of homelessness facing Newham and its residents.”
Newham Council said it was working on further lease plans for homes that are being acquired or built over the next five years, to help move people from insecure, nightly paid accommodation, or those at risk of homelessness, into settled accommodation.
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