Have your say on Ealing’s new housing plan

Residents are being invited to have their say on Ealing Council’s ambitious new plans to tackle the affordable housing crisis. The consultation on the council’s draft housing strategy, which was launched on Tuesday 7 May, aims to listen to residents and community groups to ensure their priorities are represented.

Ealing is at the worst end of the affordable housing crisis, with more than 7,500 families on the housing waiting list. Since 2018, private rents have almost doubled in some areas and the total number of private rented properties in London has fallen by more than 40%. Combined with the cost of living crisis and the government’s freeze on local housing benefit, there has been a huge increase in the number of families turning to the council for emergency help with their housing.

With its beautiful spaces and fantastic transport links, Ealing is a great place to live, but it’s also one of the most expensive places to buy a house in London, with the average house price more than 16 times the average income.

The draft plan has four main priorities:

• increasing the supply of truly affordable homes – working with residents and partners to ensure there are enough of the right types of new homes to meet residents’ needs.
• high quality housing: healthy, safe and sustainable homes – ensuring that housing benefits the health and well-being of residents.
• supporting people to live well in the community – working with partners to prevent homelessness and rough sleeping and providing housing options for older residents to live independently.
• promoting resilience, inclusion and combating inequality – improving engagement with residents and ensuring council services are accessible to all.

Councilor Peter Mason, leader of Ealing Council, said: “Working with the people of Ealing is essential as we seek to make our borough a fairer place to live, and now we want to gather your views on our new plan to tackle the crisis homes. . We already have one of the strongest housebuilding records in London and we want to continue this hard work, delivering the truly affordable homes our residents need and helping to build communities full of pride, identity and purpose across the 7 our cities. “.

Councilor Shital Manro, the council’s cabinet member for good growth and new homes, said: “We know the scale of the issues they face and the importance of getting it right. We believe our new draft housing strategy sets out bold and ambitious plans and we want to hear from our communities to find out what you think.

“Our new approach to housing is based on the council’s commitment to being open, transparent and inclusive and ensuring that local people are at the heart of the decisions we make. We know that when it comes to building new homes, one size does not fit all, so we adapt our approach so that we can meet the different housing needs of the neighbourhood.”

The consultation will run for 12 weeks and there will be a variety of engagement events with tenants, landlords and other local community groups before the housing strategy is finalized in September.

Take a short survey about the draft housing strategy.