by Natalie Bennett
Some interesting, if disturbing, figures from today’s Camden housing summit. Across England and Wales the average house sale price is £160,000, but in Camden it is £596,000.
Camden council is the landlord for about 100,000 homes, and with other social landlords in total more than a third of the borough’s housing is owned by social landlords.
Private rentals provide about a quarter of the homes in the borough. In South Camden the average rental is £550/week, in the North £350.
Camden council has insulated about 70% of its cavity wall properties and aims to have completed work on 95% by the end of this year. Around 2,000 lofts have been insulted and 1,000 further identified for the treatment.
Officers say that given the age of homes, the best average energy efficiency standard may be C, although new homes should be “near A”. The biggest challenge by far is solid wall installation. The current average is Band D, 65.4.
A workshop debate on priorities for spending put decoration and repairs to communal areas highly, and downgraded from its current priorities work on kitchens and bathrooms.
Camden Council is currently conducting a consultation entitled Is A Council Home for Life? We’d urge all Camden residents to have their say – and answer in the affirmative.
