‘Affordable’ new homes in RBWM ‘unaffordable' for anyone on low income

A housebuilding drive in the Royal Borough is set to see thousands of new builds spring up over the coming years.

But the prices of so-called ‘affordable’ new homes do little to help the borough’s poorest residents get on the housing ladder, a council meeting heard on Tuesday.

Councillors and health leaders at the health and wellbeing board heard that the borough’s relative wealth posed a ‘huge challenge’ for housing.

RBWM assistant director for housing and public protection Amanda Gregory said: “We’ve talked about the area being very affluent: house prices in general are high; rental rates are high.

“Affordable housing: although there is affordable housing being built in the area, the definition of affordable housing is 80 per cent of market rate.

“Now 80 per cent of market rate is still pretty much unaffordable to anybody who is on low income or reliant on benefits.”

Office for National Statistics data records the average house price for a first-time buyer in RBWM as £438,000, well above the national average.

Eighty per cent of the RBWM figure is £350,400.

‘It really is a huge challenge to us,’ Ms Greggory said.

Ms Gregory was discussing an update to the borough’s housing, highlighting issues with rising homelessness and social housing demand.

There are 845 people waiting for a home on RBWM’s social housing register, though only 150 homes a year become available.

‘You can start to see how long people will start to wait,’ Ms Gregory told the meeting.

Lacking availability of temporary accommodation in RBWM means more than 60 per cent of people on the waiting list are put up in other areas.

Some are housed in Slough; while others are in Reading, Milton Keynes and Aylesbury.

Ms Gregory said the council had, from Tuesday, introduced a new system to prioritise what housing was available.

Changes, she said, would emphasise housing for people in urgent need – including children leaving the care system and people with medical problems.

“What we’re trying to do is take out the grey areas and really prioritise housing for those that need it most,” she said, adding:

“These are really important things to prioritise what little housing is coming through.”

Though she acknowledged social housing remained a pressing issue for the council – as was the cost-of-living crisis for the borough’s residents.

Archive photo of John West House

“The cost-of-living is still pinching the pennies of everybody,” she said. “And that means we are still seeing increasing number of homeless or people likely to be made homeless.”

There are 353 homeless cases in the borough and a further 315 households in temporary accommodation.

However, works to John West House in Howarth Road, Maidenhead, a temporary accommodation hub, are expected to be finished in autumn this year.

It will provide seven permanent beds and 12 emergency accommodation beds, four of which are wheelchair accessible, to help support rough-sleepers or those at risk of homelessness.

Councillor Catherine Del Campo, meeting chair and cabinet member for health, added:

“I’m really looking forward to seeing John West House transformed.

"I think that will really make a difference.”