Westminster’s housing chief has said that the borough will concentrate on delivering good quality, fire-safe homes, in the wake of yesterday’s blaze at the Grenfell Tower in Kensington.
Cabinet member for housing Rachael Robotham said at the London Real Estate Conference in London that the council had a target for 1,800 affordable homes between now and 2022. She emphasised that quality was essential and said that fire safety would be a priority as the council steps up its development ambitions.
The council is focusing on intermediate rent in the short term, as that only makes up 1.5% of the local authority area’s stock. Its city plan will have 60% intermediate rent within the affordable envelope.
She said: “We have so many fewer intermediate units that social rented housing, so we need to do this to create mixed communities. We want to ensure Westminster is a city where anyone can afford to live.
“The key criteria is quality.”
She said that safety was better with modular housing, and said that it was imperative that the council delivers safe homes.
The council is using its housing options service to rehouse people affected by yesterday’s fire in neighbouring borough Kensington.
