PEABODY Housing Association has defended its sale of social housing, claiming that it is only selling a small number of units – and this to subsidise the building of new homes.
The Association has come under criticism for trying to sell off a number of higher value homes in Tower Hamlets, including some properties Peabody acquired from the Crown Estates. Peabody has been planning to sell 17 Robinson Road, which has been empty for ten months, for some time. The property was withdrawn from the market after protests from local residents, housing campaigners and Tower Hamlets Executive Mayor John Biggs – but it is now up for sale once more.
Commenting after the protest outside 17 Robinson Road in Tower Hamlets, a Peabody spokesperson said:
“We are committed to providing genuinely affordable homes to Londoners and aim to build around 1,000 every year. These homes need subsidy, and we generate this by selling homes on the open market. Most of these are new build homes, however we sell a small number of empty properties every year when it makes sense to do so. This is just 40 homes every year out of 56,000. If we did not undertake sales, our ability to deliver new affordable homes would be severely restricted. The funds raised allow us to invest in development, maintenance and community programmes.”
The property at 17 Robinson Road has a reserve price of £640k, which could pay for around ten homes to be built (at the average UK price of £60k for building a residential property). Selling 40 such homes could fund 400 new homes (providing a net gain of 360 homes) – which is indeed a substantial proportion of 1,000 homes.
However, Peabody would have to buy the land for building on too. This could halve the number of homes which could be funded by the sale of the 40 existing homes. Is Peabody talking about some 180 homes out of 1,000 as a “severely restricted” number? Peabody has been asked to clarify its sums – and to clarify how many of the 1,000 homes it aims to build or which have been built are in Tower Hamlets.
•Peabody’s property 17 Robinson Road is due to go to auction on Monday. Campaigners are calling on local residents to send emails of protest to: Lord Bob Kerslake, Chair of Peabody Housing Association: kerslakeb@parliament.uk Brendan Sarsfield, Chief Executive of Peabody Housing Association: brendan.sarsfield@peabody.org.uk
•Read about the latest protest at Robinson Road: Protest as Peabody SELLS OFF social housing
•Read more about it: Corbyn pledges to house the homeless