Time for a new deal on the Olympic Park
Marking the eighth anniversary of London hosting the Olympic and Paralympic Games, The East London Citizens Organisation (TELCO) launched a film that highlights the broken promises around the London’s Olympic housing legacy. They call on policymakers to honour the pledges they made and work with them for a New Deal on the Olympic Park.
“There are very few families, certainly from our school and the local community that have moved onto that legacy site, A lot of new people have moved into Newham, but a lot of those would be young professionals who are perhaps working up in the City because realistically they are the only people who can afford most of that housing.”
Andy Lewis – Deputy Headteacher, St Bonaventure’s School
Olympics housing legacy commitments made in 2005
- 50% affordable housing
- At least 100 Community Land Trust Homes
Broken Promises
- There are no Community Land Trust homes on the Olympic Park and only 20 in the pipeline.
- Affordable housing commitments have been cut. Much of what is described as affordable tracks market prices rather than local incomes, requiring incomes of £48-80k, whilst local median household incomes are £26k
- Applying a genuine affordability test to new housing products on the Olympic park, levels of affordable housing on different developments range from 0 – 24%, well below the 50% promised.
- 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.
Our film captures two worlds: luxury/exclusive housing being built on the park and housing misery for those in the London Olympic legacy boroughs.
What we are asking for:
We are willing to work with the Mayor of London, Legacy Boroughs, and the LLDC on a new deal for a housing legacy:
- GENUINELY AFFORDABLE – to increase affordable housing to 50% across the Olympic Park, with at least 60% of those for social/council rent. We want a genuinely affordable housing test on all affordable housing products measured against local incomes.
- COMMUNITY-LED – Community Land Trusts and Community-based housing offer a way of generating high-quality housing and we want to pilot this across the Olympic Park to ensure genuine community involvement and ownership.
- INCLUSIVE – Data indicates 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 reflecting the diversity of East London.
