Memorise and repeat aloud each day:
Policy makers are hoping that there will be a convergence in living standards with residents in the east and west of London. The danger is that this will be achieved by simply changing the population mix rather than transforming the lives of existing east London communities.
The words conclude an article for the Guardian's housing network blog by two east London academics. Dr Penny Bernstock and Professor Gavin Poynter summarised research into housing scheme planning agreements along Stratford High Street since London triumphed in the 2012 Olympics bid battle seven years ago.
The Games are intended to give a massive further boost to a wider regeneration of East London, extending far beyond the Olympic Park and improving the lives of neighbourhoods that have been struggling for far too long. The provision of new, affordable housing in an area of acute housing need is seen as central to this.
Yet the researchers say that since 2009 there has been a "dramatic departure from previous commitments to mixed communities and on-site affordable housing," with the three housing schemes approved during that time including only tiny percentages of shared ownership affordable homes and none at all for social rent. Bernstock and Poynter write:
Every site or scheme that includes very low or no on-site affordable housing for rent exacerbates the housing crisis for families on low incomes. These developments will shape subsequent activity on surrounding sites and indicates that poor families will eventually be pushed out of this area.
A prominent London Tory characterises the policies of Newham council as a quest to have its own middle-class. Certainly, the borough's Labour mayor Sir Robin Wales wants more stability and aspiration among the people of Newham. He advertises no aversion to some of this being imported: entering motorists are welcomed with a sign proclaiming it "a place where people choose to live, work and stay."
Nor should he - the right sort of incomer can add social and economic capital to a place from which everyone benefits. Yet he also stresses his willingness to help existing residents who are willing to help themselves. I don't think Sir Robin would mind at all if any post-Games increase in Newham peoples' wealth and health was substantially home-grown. However, if the housing picture Bernstock and Poynter describe indicates what is to come, there are good reasons for concern.
London's housing crisis is by no means all the boroughs' fault, and they cannot be blamed for the government, supported by Boris Johnson, offering few useful solutions. Whatever, if new homes in Newham and Olympic East London as a whole are to be become less and less truly affordable to most of the people presently living there, even the local upwardly mobile might be obliged to look for accommodation elsewhere. Not quite the the sort of "convergence" its champions have in mind.
Dave Hill
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