Ealing Council has completed the purchase of 180 new homes at Berkeley Homes’ Green Quarter development in Southall, to let at genuinely affordable rents to council tenants.
The homes, a mix of one-, two-, and three-bedroom properties, are currently under construction and are expected to be finished and let by early autumn 2026.
This significant investment by the council will accelerate the delivery of affordable homes at the development by over 5 years, helping tackle the borough’s acute affordable housing crisis.
Ninety-six of the homes will be let at social rent, with the remaining 84 at London Living Rent. Both rent levels are priced well within the budgets of local people on low incomes. On average, council rents are less than a quarter of their private rental equivalents.
LEAST AFFORDABLE PLAVE TO LIVE
The borough is one of the least affordable places to live in the country and in recent years the council has experienced an unprecedented volume of requests for emergency help with housing from residents.
On average, each month, it is temporarily housing around 3,000 families, at huge cost, and there are almost 8,000 households on the waiting list for a long-term council home.
The council is pivoting to bulk purchasing homes in response to changing marketing conditions.
Recent years have seen an industry-wide slowdown in council housebuilding caused by hikes in the cost of labour, materials and interest rates in the wake of the cost-of-living crisis. London-wide, the number of new council homes being built dropped from 2,070 starts in 2022-23 to just 13 in 2023-24.
FUNDING COMBINATION
The council has used a combination of funding sources to secure the homes, including a grant from the Greater London Authority’s Affordable Homes Programme 2021-2026 and borrowing.
This aligns with the Council Plan 2022–2026, which commits to a long-term homebuilding programme and sets a target of delivering thousands of new genuinely affordable homes across the borough by April 2026.
The council is considering a number of other bulk purchase deals, for homes which would be let as either temporary accommodation or secure council tenancies for local people.
NECESSARY STEP
Ealing Council leader, Peter Mason, says: “This is a bold and necessary step to ensure that local people have access to homes they can truly afford.
“Now, almost 200 local families will be able to start new lives in safe, modern homes by the end of next year. We’re proud to be leading the way in tackling the housing crisis head-on.”
Councillor Shital Manro, the council’s cabinet member for good growth and new homes, adds: “This deal shows what’s possible when Ealing Council acts decisively on one of its key priorities and respond quickly to changing market conditions.
“It’s a fantastic outcome for some of the borough’s most vulnerable residents and goes a small way to addressing the housing crisis we are facing in the borough.”
