HACKNEY COUNCIL has begun the process of building 400 new homes to shave a sliver off its waiting list. The homes will be built in small batches over 14 sites which include underused land.
First in the queue is Mandeville Street in Clapton. The Council’s Planning Sub-Committee has unanimously approved a scheme to remove a row of unused garages and create a new mews street, where it will build five homes for social rent and six for the controversial “shared ownership” scheme.
On the same evening the Committee also agreed to convert a former Council office in Whiston Road, Haggerston, into two new Council homes for social rent.
Across the programme as a whole, Hackney intends that 70% of the homes will be for social rent or shared ownership. Building costs will be met by selling the other homes that are built on the open market.
Four hundred new homes is a good start – but the waiting list is 13,000. Local residents will be waiting to see what the Council’s next step will be.
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