Cllr Andrew Johnson: defended sales of social properties worth £27m in the borough
Hammersmith and Fulham Council has come under fire for auctioning 58 social housing properties, worth more than £27 million, in the last year.
The council contracted local auctioneer Barnard Marcus to sell the properties in a move which has been described as “scandalous” by Labour councilors.
Hammersmith and Fulham Labour leader Stephen Cowan said: “It is terrible that hard-working, low income families are being forced into the private sector or being moved as far away as Enfield because there aren’t enough homes to go round, all while the council is selling much-needed stock.”
The council claims that the properties were in a state of disrepair and it wouldn’t be financially viable to carry out the necessary work to get back up tostandard.
Cllr Andrew Johnson, cabinet member for housing, said: “The money received from the sales of these ‘expensive voids’ is used to part fund our capital works programme, which for the coming year will total £35 million, as well as to fund the development of new affordable housing. In addition, from April this year will we also have to use some this money to start paying down our £200 million of housing debt when our housing budget becomes self financing as we no longer receive any additional funding from Government. “
“So if it’s a case of rents rocketing or selling a limited number of empty properties in a poor state of repair to fund some maintenance and pay to the debt, which will cost around £12m a year to service, then it’s the latter every time,” he added.
The council also said it has funding in place to build its first new homes for 30 years.