Community calls for new deal on Olympic Park housing legacy

Screenshot - pupils demand CLT homes

Many long-standing Catholic members of The East London Citizens Organisation (TELCO) feature in a new film released this week, marking the eighth anniversary of London hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games.

Staff and pupils from St Antony's Primary School, Newham, St Bonaventure's School, Forest Gate and St Stephen's Manor Park, are among those highlighting the broken promises made in 2005, and call on policymakers to honour the pledges they made and work with them for a new deal on the Olympic Park.

As large areas were demolished to make way for the Olympic Park, the local community was promised that new developments after the Olympics would include 50% affordable housing and at least 100 Community Land Trust Homes. But eight years on - there are no CLT homes on the Olympic Park and just 20 in the pipeline. Affordable housing commitments have been cut. Much of what is described as 'affordable' tracks market prices rather than local incomes. For example, at East Village (former athletes' village) a two-bedroom unit described as intermediate affordable rent requires an income of £48k. Shared ownership affordable units at Chobham Manor (the first neighbourhood on the park) require incomes ranging from £58k £80k. Median Household incomes range from £23 - £29k above the legacy boroughs.

Between 2012 and 2017, 5163 new housing units were approved at the LLDC Planning Committee but only 19% were 'affordable'.

TELCO says the key beneficiaries of the new housing are wealthier professional groups.

A combination of rising house prices, welfare reform and a lack of affordable housing are resulting in low-income families having to leave the area or experience increasing housing insecurity.

The new film captures two worlds: luxury/exclusive housing being built on the park and housing misery for those in the legacy boroughs.

TELCO says it is willing to work with the Mayor of London, Legacy Boroughs, and the LLDC on a new deal for a housing legacy. They want genuinely affordable housing; projects which are genuinely led by the community; and are inclusive.

TELCO says: "Data from Triathlon has indicated that Black and Minority Ethnic (BAME) Groups are massively under-represented in intermediate affordable housing on the Olympic Park. We want the Park to become a model for social inclusion, and to ensure that it reflects the diversity of East London."

Andy Lewis - Deputy Headteacher at St Bonaventure's School, says in the film: "As a young man that was involved when I was 16, it was a real possibility that I would be able to buy a home,.. Fifteen years later…I look at the flats that are being built and it is not possible, because the agreements that we set, have not been adhered too. In four years, when Paris hosts the next Olympic games, we hope that there's a better story to tell about the London Olympic housing legacy."

Watch the film here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=9a0RQkspPRk