London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 10, 2025

Talk of a public housing renaissance in London is fake news

Talk of a public housing renaissance in London is fake news

Developers exploit spurious definitions of affordability to pretend they are solving a housing crisis they helped to create. As academics researching the UK housing crisis, we are all too familiar with the extreme lack of public housing. Between 1981 and 2016, for instance, social housing in England decreased by 25%.

So we were surprised to hear about the “renaissance” of public housing in the capital, celebrated in an exhibition by the New London Architecture Foundation, an independent body set up to support conversations about London’s architecture.

But it turned out that the public housing being showcased was essentially not public housing at all. It is true that for the first time in 40 years, substantial numbers of homes are starting to be delivered directly by councils. But this exhibition defined public housing as “homes built, generally by local authorities directly, via special purpose vehicles, or in partnership, on public land and/or with an element of public subsidy”. This is problematic, not just because it includes public-private partnerships, but because it stretches the parameters so far as to make them essentially meaningless.

This erosion of meaning is typical of the current post-truth era. The term “affordable housing”, for instance, has become notoriously hollow. It is generally applied to properties for rent or sale at 80% of local market rates, which makes them unaffordable for most people, especially in high-cost cities like London.

One example celebrated by the foundation as part of the supposed renaissance is Chobham Manor, in the Olympic Park in Stratford, which will include up to 6,800 new homes. As part of its quota of “affordable” housing, 79 of the first 259 homes will be shared ownership properties, starting at £115,000 for a 25% share of a one-bedroom flat.

Similarly, two-bedroom shared ownership flats in one of the Olympic Park’s newest developments, Stratford Central, start at £130,000 for a 25% share – around twice as much as buying a private two-bedroom flat in the area, which start from about £260,000.

And while shared ownership tenants purchase a percentage of the property, they pay all the service charges as well as rental costs on the remaining percentage, so monthly costs are higher than for a comparable private property.

The exhibition also highlighted estate regeneration, a controversial practice of decanting residents and demolishing council estates to make way for more densely-built properties, most of which are sold or rented at market rates. In 2015, the London Assembly found that from 2005-2015 there was a net loss of 8,000 social rented homes due to such schemes.
Advertisement

Estates such as Woodberry Down in Manor House are seen by the foundation as examples of new forms of public housing investment. Defining them in this way is presumably justified by the “affordable” housing they include. At Woodberry Down, 43% of housing is apparently to be affordable, but 53% of those homes are for shared ownership rather than social rent.

Developments like this can be more accurately understood as an exercise in state-led gentrification. In Hackney, 645 socially rented homes were lost due to the regeneration of Woodberry Down, and private properties on the development are priced from £555,000 to £1m.

Meanwhile, Lewisham council has announced a new developmentthat will include 100 properties ambiguously labelled as council social homes. This new term suggested the homes would be let at traditional council rent levels, but in fact, these rents will be £50-£60 a week higher than existing levels.

We are very concerned about this shifting use of language. Shaking the terms “public” and “affordable” loose from their original meaning allows the government and property developers to deflect accusations that they are not providing enough affordable housing. It redefines the increasing involvement of the private sector and the prioritisation of profit in public housing provision as solutions for the housing crisis, rather than contributing towards it.

The desperate lack of social housing and prohibitive prices of homes for private sale and rental have been caused by the sell-off of social housing and the transfer of power to private developers, whose agenda will only ever be profit.

Yet the government seems to be trying to redress this by extending rather than countering that approach – investing in schemes that result in net losses in social housing and subsidise developers building expensive properties.

Trying to solve a problem with the same actions that caused it is either plain stupid, or evidence of a lack of desire to solve it at all.

Mel Nowicki is lecturer in urban geography, department of social sciences, Oxford Brookes University. Ella Harris is a postdoctoral researcher at Goldsmiths College, University of London.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
×