Southwark Council to take action on affordable homes promises

London’s Southwark Council is taking action on landlords and developers who do not fulfil their affordable housing commitments. According to Cllr James McAsh, the council has so far ensured that more affordable housing has been delivered than promised, not less. Of the 188 consented developments since 2002, the council required 6,278 affordable homes, and developers provided 7,754. In addition, McAsh says that more homes at social rent have exceeded what was required by 1,300 units, despite still missing a number of affordable homes promised by some developers on other sites. The news comes as in 2015, a complaint accused Southwark Council of not following through with its Section 106 agreement to provide social housing on one of its developments post completion. While the reasons why were “complex and tied to legal agreements which could not be easily changed”, it was found that the council was not checking that developers did as they had agreed on quotas once the homes were built. Following the complaint, a further ombudsman investigation looked into Southwark Council’s response from 2016 to see if it had followed up on its promises and annual audit of S106 social rented homes. In this instance, the ombudsman found in the council’s favour. Southwark Council said it “wholeheartedly” agrees with the complainant, expressing that it is not acceptable for landlords or developers to “deprive people in the borough” of the housing they need and welcomed a subsequent review and carried out annual audits in 2021 and 2022. This was said to be a complex process with legal documents and data spanning over 15 years, which Southwark Council will continue to audit going forward. Cllr James McAsh, cabinet member for climate emergency and sustainable development, said: “This piece of work needed to happen, in order to hold landlords and developers to account, ensure the council is doing all it can to deliver promised social housing in particular, and give residents confidence in the planning process with far greater transparency. “And residents can be confident that we are leading the way on a robust and proactive template for monitoring affordable housing post-planning. No other authority is taking action on this, and I am sure there are councils up and down the country who are missing out on the homes they require for their residents." He added: “Delivering on affordable and social housing promises is a great challenge faced by authorities nationally, with rising interest rates and costs of construction spiralling. It is therefore imperative that we achieve all agreed affordable housing post-planning, wherever we can.”

Southwark Council to take action on affordable homes promises

In 2015, a complaint accused the council of not following through with its S106 agreement to provide social housing on one of its developments post completion

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