Barking and Dagenham Council is embarking on an "ambitious programme" to construct new council homes, a move aimed at alleviating overcrowding for thousands of families across the borough. John Knight, the council’s director of housing, revealed the plans this week, telling councillors that new builds would address the needs of some of the 4,000 families currently on the housing register, many of whom are living in cramped conditions.
Council’s Housing Director Outlines Plans
Mr Knight said: “We do have ambitions to build more social homes. When we build them ourselves they’re more likely to include those larger units which we know we need.” Labour councillor Josie Channer had questioned the council's efforts to meet the demand from "desperate" overcrowded families. She said: “I can think of four families alone in my ward who are very overcrowded, who have a disabled child living in extremely difficult conditions. The lack of social housing and our own build programme, the demand versus what we have available – what is that looking like?”
Overcrowding Statistics and Eligibility Criteria
Mr Knight replied that of the 6,200 households waiting for a council home, some 4,000 were living in overcrowded conditions. To be eligible for council housing in Barking and Dagenham, a person has to be a UK national and to have lived in the borough for at least three years straight.
Funding for New Homes
Mr Knight said the council’s housing revenue account – the pot of money reserved for spending on council homes – is growing. This is separate to the money the council has used to build private ‘affordable’ homes through its housing company Be First. Mr Knight said the increase in money was because of a recent government decision that allows councils to increase rents by an additional £1 a week every year for those that are currently below a national standard rate. The government said that this will help local authorities raise the money to build new council homes.
Additional Measures to Reduce Overcrowding
Mr Knight said: “In very crude terms, we’ve got more money in the housing revenue account to build our own properties again. That money is on a good trajectory because the government has passed now a rent convergence principle so that rents will be growing.” Mr Knight also said the council was considering other measures to reduce overcrowding among families on its housing register. He said these could include giving single adults living as part of a larger household the opportunity to apply for their own one-bed flats.
Bidding Advice for Families
However, he suggested that families waiting for a council home might be given one sooner if they bid more often. People waiting on the council’s housing register can bid for homes when they become available. The bids are then determined based on how long they have been waiting, but also on the priority of their needs. Mr Knight said: “If people bid regularly and realistically they increase their chances of being offered a suitable property. For example people might say, ‘I want a three-bedroom house. I’ve got a three-bedroom need, there are three-bedroom houses in this borough, I want a three-bedroom house’. That is their prerogative but they’ll be bidding a lot longer before they get a three-bedroom house than if they said they would accept a three-bedroom flat.”
