In response to queries raised by residents at a walkabout East End Homes, published at on this blog. Please find below East End Homes Response (Part 2 of 3) to the questions raised. Questions raised by residents are in bold text.
Clear information needs to given in terms of a breakdown of tenure, rents and service charges.
Please see above for a tenure breakdown.
The affordable homes in this scheme (if it gains approval) will provide a combination of tenures LAR (London Affordable rent); THLR (Tower Hamlets Living Rent); intermediate rent and private sale.
London Affordable Rents (LAR) are the equivalent of what was previously referred to as ‘Social Rents’ or ‘Social Target Rents’. This should not be confused with the GLA’s London Living Rent which is an ‘Intermediate’ product which anticipates that tenants will use their sub-market rent levels to save towards the purchase of the property or another property on a shared ownership basis – rent levels for this product have been produced by the GLA on a ward-by-ward basis.
See below for the current LAR rent levels:
| 2018/19 Rents | London Affordable Rent
(excluding service charges) |
| 1 Bed | £ 150.03 |
| 2 Bed | £ 158.84 |
| 3 Bed | £ 167.67 |
| 4 Bed | £ 176.49 |
To provide further information and clarity please see London Living Rent levels below:
| Affordable Rent Level for GLA’s London Living Rent 2017-18 | Weekly |
| GLA’s London Living Rent |
| Ward | 1 bed | 2 bed | 3 bed | 4 bed |
| St Katharine’s and Wapping | £267.66 | £297.40 | £327.14 | £356.88 |
| Spitalfields and Banglatown | £267.66 | £297.40 | £327.14 | £356.88 |
| Whitechapel | £261.83 | £290.92 | £320.01 | £349.10 |
| Limehouse | £253.59 | £281.77 | £309.95 | £338.12 |
| Weavers | £251.85 | £279.84 | £307.82 | £335.80 |
| Canary Wharf | £244.24 | £271.38 | £298.52 | £325.66 |
| Blackwall and Cubitt Town | £231.63 | £257.37 | £283.10 | £308.84 |
| St Peter’s | £220.52 | £245.02 | £269.52 | £294.02 |
| Bow West | £217.98 | £242.20 | £266.42 | £290.64 |
| Island Gardens | £214.05 | £237.83 | £261.61 | £285.39 |
| Bethnal Green | £213.42 | £237.13 | £260.85 | £284.56 |
| Bow East | £202.77 | £225.30 | £247.83 | £270.37 |
| Shadwell | £202.77 | £225.30 | £247.83 | £270.37 |
| St Dunstan’s | £202.77 | £225.30 | £247.83 | £270.36 |
| Stepney Green | £199.23 | £221.36 | £243.50 | £265.63 |
| Mile End | £197.70 | £219.67 | £241.64 | £263.61 |
| Bromley South | £195.17 | £216.86 | £238.54 | £260.23 |
| Bromley North | £191.11 | £212.35 | £233.58 | £254.82 |
| Lansbury | £183.42 | £203.80 | £224.18 | £244.56 |
| Poplar | £178.44 | £198.27 | £218.09 | £237.92 |
| Average | £219.89 | £244.32 | £268.76 | £295.63 |
Please note we are not currently proposing any units at LLR only THLR/LAR for the affordable rented units.
Tower Hamlets Living Rent was adopted by Tower Hamlets Council in 2017 and emerged from the Council’s own housing ‘Affordability Commission’ and ran concurrently with the GLA as they were developing their own Affordable Housing policies. In effect, the Council adopted a similar approach to the GLA and this is reflected in the Councils 2016-21 Housing Strategy (adopted in December 2016). The rent levels in the strategy were guided by the 2015/16 Affordability Commission which stated that the Borough Framework rents were too high and they would like to see Registered Providers charging lower rents.
The Affordability Commission determined that there should be a 50/50 split of the new TH Living Rents and Social Target rents across all bedroom sizes. This approach was then applied to all S106 negotiations with RP’s (Registered Providers) and retained the Councils preferred mix of 70%:30% in favour of rented with the 30% intermediate provided as Shared Ownership or London Living Rents (GLA) or any form of intermediate rent.
The 70% of the affordable provision (by hab room) should be for rent and split 50/50 between Social Rents (at same level as London Affordable Rents) and TH Living Rents. TH Living Rents are defined as a rented tenure based on average median income levels which are £31,645 pa, (as of May 2017) and working on the premise that it is reasonable to spend a third of income on rent.
Current rent levels as set by the Council for Tower Hamlets Living Rents are listed below:
| 2018/19 Rents | Tower Hamlets Living Rent
(inclusive of service charges) |
| 1 Bed | £ 191.90 |
| 2 Bed | £ 211.09 |
| 3 Bed | £ 230.28 |
| 4 Bed | £ 249.48 |
In terms of the ‘intermediate’ rented units it is EastendHomes intention to set rents in line with Council policies and national guidelines and benchmarked with the gross household income affordability criteria as set out by the GLA with rents of around £200 and £300 per week depending on unit size. It is not intended to provide these units as shared ownership given the likely high valuations and the minimum share entry levels are not affordable for the majority of people in Tower Hamlets. It is possible rents can be kept lower if grant is available from the GLA or elsewhere. There is also a possibility that with grant support EastendHomes retain 43 additional units to be let at intermediate rent levels. If this was ultimately achievable the scheme would be just short of 70% affordable. The EastendHomes Board has made it clear that when there is an opportunity to reduce rents they would seek to do so. Keeping intermediate units as rented units rather than shared ownership keeps this option available.
In an ideal world EastendHomes would prefer to see the majority of affordable units let at LAR (social rents) however the Councils adoption of THLR recognises there are a range of different housing needs and this should be reflected in the tenure mix of any residential planning application – the recently completed St Clements site is a nearby example. Ultimately, whatever the tenure, providing 142 new homes will make a significant contribution to helping people get homes and extends our new build programme that since 2008 has provided over 300 new homes all at social rents for local people – something we are very proud of. This is an innovative scheme which creates additional new homes on the existing footprint of land and provides over 50% affordable homes significantly in excess of Tower Hamlets requirements.
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