Following yesterday’s Homeless Link report into rough sleeping in London, the mayor Boris Johnson has pledged to end street homelessness by 2012. There has been a decline in the number of rough sleepers throughout the country, but London is the only region that has failed to meet the government’s 1998 commitment to reduce numbers by
The number of people living in overcrowded homes in England will soar 15 per cent to 2.6 million by 2011 as unemployment and repossessions bite, the National Housing Federation warned today. It says an extra 350,000 people would be living in overcrowded conditions in the next two years, exacerbated by the economic slowdown which has
The London Assembly has unanimously agreed a motion calling for an increase in the supply of family homes and improvements to the quality of family housing. The Assembly agreed a target in the Mayor’s housing strategy of 42 per cent of new social rented housing should have three or more bedrooms, but it has also
Welsh council house tenants are subsidising social housing in England, Welsh Liberal Democrat housing spokesperson Peter Black has claimed. He launched the attack on the ‘convoluted’ arrangements which sees all but one Welsh local authority which owns council houses return rental receipts to the Treasury. He argues that changes to the housing revenue subsidy system
London mayor Boris Johnson has unveiled his initiative to revitalise public spaces with the Great Spaces programme. The programme will target places in London that have poor access or are unattractive to visit and Mr Johnson has committed £200,000 to it. Projects at any stage of their development can be submitted by London boroughs for
House prices in London fell further than in any other part of Britain in 2008, figures from Hometrack reveal. London prices fell by 10.1 per cent on average, compared with an 8.7 per cent overall slump. Hometrack estimate that a further 12 per cent fall will come next year, as forced job losses will lead
New publicly funded homes built in the London will have to comply with minimum internal space standard major Boris Johnson said. The London housing design guide established six key areas of design that new development will have to incorporate from 2011, including minimum space standards around 10 per cent higher than the Parker Morris benchmark,
In London, mayor Boris Johnson has said he would review his commitment to deliver 50,000 new affordable homes in light of the difficult economic circumstances. City Hall released a statement outlining the mayor’s plan to change the rules on affordable housing, and repeated his commitment to removing the London-wide affordable housing target of 50 per
The number of rough sleepers in London has risen by 15 per cent in the last year, fuelled by an increase in Eastern Europeans who have lost their jobs and now make up one in seven of those living on the street. According to the figures from Broadway more than 4,600 rough sleepers were counted
Londoners’ confidence in the property market has bounced back according to research from Rightmove. A majority of people living in the capital – 59 per cent – say that now is a good time to buy, and more than half expect to purchase a home to live in this year, with 12 per cent planning