A new long-term plan for housing in the borough Ealing has been launched following extensive consultation with residents and community groups.
The plan aims for everyone in the borough’s seven towns to have a good quality, genuinely affordable home in a strong, thriving community where they can live happier and healthier lives.
The plan’s four priorities are:
- supporting growth: meeting the urgent local need for more genuinely affordable homes
- quality homes and neighbourhoods: that are safe, healthy and resilient for the future
- well-managed homes: supporting renters to live settled lives, and giving them more power, control, and choice, and taking quick action if things go wrong
- better lives and connected communities: preventing housing crisis, fighting housing inequalities and supporting independence
Details outlined include a renewed focus on delivering thousands more affordable homes that meet residents’ diverse needs, with more homes for keyworkers and those on moderate incomes. There will be more support for those facing homelessness, and help for older residents to live independently, as ensuring there is a supply of suitable homes for older people. The private rented sector will continue to be managed through licensing.
Councillor Peter Mason, the leader of Ealing Council, said:
“We know that when it comes to building new homes, one size does not fit all, so we are adapting our approach.
“Our new housing strategy will allow us to respond to the different housing needs of each of the borough’s seven towns. It follows extensive consultation with residents and community groups last year – putting local people at the heart of our decision-making process.”
The council will work with communities and partners to identify and address housing inequalities, creating a fairer housing market where no-one is left behind. There will also be more opportunities for residents to help shape the future of housing in the borough
The plan will help ensure homes are climate resilient, safe and of a high quality.
The borough of Ealing is at the forefront of the national affordable housing crisis, with more than 7,000 families on the waiting list for a secure council tenancy. The borough is a highly desirable place to live with beautiful parks, outstanding schools and unrivalled transport links, but is one of the most expensive places for housing in the country.
The council is running one of the biggest council homebuilding programmes in the country but with local housing targets set to increase, it needs to build even more.
Ealing is London’s third largest borough and is growing quickly with the number of older residents increasing significantly. There is projected to be an 80% rise in the number of people aged over 75 between 2021 and 2031.
To meet rising demand, the borough needs almost 28,000 affordable new homes over the next 15 years and 70% of these should be available at genuinely affordable rents. In particular, more 3- or 4-bedroom homes are needed for families. In response, the plan details ambitions to create more affordable housing specifically for older people and families.
Councillor Shital Manro, the council’s cabinet member for good growth and new housing, said:
“This bold, innovative plan will help us build the homes our borough desperately needs.
“We already have one of the strongest home building records in London, and we will continue providing the genuinely affordable homes that our residents need, in communities full of pride, identity, and purpose.”
Read the housing strategy here.