The amount of social rented housing completed in Southwark decreased by 20 per cent between 2020 – 21, according to data published by the GLA.
Social rent is low-cost rent offered by local authorities, comprising both council housing and housing association properties.
This figure of – 20% refers to the number of new social rents delivered in the borough between 2020 – 21.
It is a negative as the stat takes into account how many social rents were lost due to development or being purchased through the right to buy – amongst other things.
“This data tells us that, while we have lost many social rented homes from estate regenerations, like the Heygate and the Aylesbury, we are not getting enough social rented homes from private developments, despite the huge amount of redevelopment in the borough, at the Elephant, down the Old Kent Rd and elsewhere,” said Jerry Flynn of the 35% Campaign, which battles to ensure all new developments contain 35% affordable housing.
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Southwark Council hotly contested GLA’s statistics.
“We are aware that the Planning London Datahub is currently displaying our social rented income as – 20.4% in 2020 – 21. However this figure is inconsistent with our Housing Delivery Test figure,” said Cllr Helen Dennis, cabinet member for the climate emergency and sustainable development.
“We are in dialogue with the GLA to rectify this discrepancy,” she added.
The number of new social rents is highly variable from year to year, and can often reflect lags between the demolition of old housing and the creation of new. This means that an accurate reflection of the number of new social rents in the borough is better gained by taking a long view.
In 2020 social rents increased by 8.5 per cent in the borough.
Between 2004 – 2020 the number of socially rented properties in Southwark grew by 10.7 per cent, according to the 35% Campaign’s analysis of the GLA’s figures.
Southwark still has one of the largest proportions of social housing among all London boroughs.
GLA’s data set is available here.