Is Como St "Much Needed Housing" ?

One of the strange things we’ve noticed on social media, is the reference by supporters of the tower blocks to “much needed housing”, when discussions take place about the overdevelopment of Romford Town Centre. 

It’s a mantra that the companies responsible for these planning applications often use, in conjunction with the term “residential-led development”. But is it much needed housing, and what housing stock is currently for sale or rent in the borough

Here’s The Data

So let’s take a look at the actual properties listed for sale and rent in the London Borough of Havering. For this exercise we’ve used four terms in a our search parameters:

  1. Flats for rent in the London Borough of Havering
  2. Flats for sale in the London Borough of Havering
  3. Houses for rent in the London Borough of Havering
  4. Houses for sale in the the London Borough of Havering

And the results may surprise you:-
 

Now these tables clearly indicate that there is a fair amount of housing stock available for rent or sale, and that we aren’t out of “much needed housing”. 

And these tables don’t include the already completed developments that are marketed directly by the developers, and not on listings websites.

 

Dispelling The Myth

So it’s clear that there is private housing stock available, so building more isn’t to fulfill a need, it’s to line the pockets of developers, and cover the government's housing targets. And to do that LBH is taking on more debt, that will take 40 years to repay.

In the great scheme of things , is the Como St development at just 138 homes (mainly flats) , making a huge contribution to housing targets ?

The truth is we need more investment in social housing, and the priority for the council must be to get the 1200 families out of temporary accommodation, and to reduce the waiting list for council properties. Let’s not allow developers to fill Romford with new housing stock that we may not actually need.

 

The Benefits Of Investing In Social Housing

Research commissioned in 2024 by the Mayor of London, G15 and the Association of London Councils produced these key findings:

  • Economic growth and housing affordability are closely linked
  • If housing affordability improved by just one per cent, productivity in London would increase by 0.14 per cent
  • Across London this would lead to an economy that is £730 million larger each year
  • Over ten years, this means that just a one percent increase in housing affordability could lead to a boost of over £7 billion to London's economy

So why is the London Borough of Havering still focussing on private rental stock ?

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