Karen Buck MP, Labour MP for Westminster North, has again used her parliamentary position to do some important detective work on housing. She has been chasing Housing Associations in North London. These are often ignored, although they generally represent a much bigger chunk of the below market rate of London, and until recently they were regarded as public sector by the ONS. As with Council housing they have been seriously squeezed financially by central government.
According to her figures Brent Housing Associations have seen more than £20 million of housing sold in 2013 to 2018. This directly impacts the supply of cheaper housing available, and leads to more overcrowding and homelessness. The natural tendency of this sell off is that, even if the money is ringfenced to replace the lost units, it will be used to sell off units in expensive areas and replace the units in cheaper areas. In other words quite a big shifting of London's character is occurring.
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