Public Servant Lifestyle

London’s first local keyworker housing strategy has officially been launched in Hammersmith & Fulham. The strategy is designed to encourage key workers – such as police officers, nurses, teachers and social workers – to remain living and working in the borough.

Helping key workers to gain access to an affordable home was the focus of two special open days as part of the strategy, at Hammersmith town hall. Local housing associations and financial advisors ( able to advise on right to buy issues, amongst other matters ) were on hand to help some of the borough’s many key workers find out how they can afford to live locally.

"We understand that building the best community means employing and keeping the best staff in key areas, such as hospitals, police stations and schools," explains Hammersmith & Fulham's Deputy for regeneration, Councillor Dame Sally Powell. "This means finding quality, affordable housing within the borough, so that our key workers can afford to live locally, and to encourage them to stay working in the local area.

"Our commitment to housing key workers includes establishing a register of workers and affordable homes and setting up a dedicated key worker housing unit within the council. This unit will work directly within the community, in particular working to house police and nurses, as well as teachers and social workers.

Reality

"The reality is that finding a home in this area can be expensive, and that can force our valued social services, health and police staff out, to live and work in other boroughs. By being proactive and supporting key workers to live locally we increase our ability to retain dedicated and important staff who are critical in providing local public services. We are already leading the way in developing quality, affordable housing within the borough, and now we are working creatively to get our key workers into these new homes."

More than 600 people attended the two-day keyworker event in Hammersmith. Among them was local police officer, Malcolm Richardson, from Shepherds Bush. He says: "Many key workers have a connection to the people and the area they work in, and we want to send our children to local schools, so we don’t want to live too far out.

"But living in areas like this, where the jobs are, can be expensive, so schemes to house key workers are very important. But I do think there needs to be more attention to the different priorities of people, I really need a family home, which is much harder to find, but still very important."

Local police constable Alex Hall was given a loan to help her find a home and live locally. She says: "I could never have afforded to live in the borough, without this extra help, but now it means I am settled, and I have my own place close to work."

West London Strategy

The broader housing strategy for west London includes the seven west London boroughs of Brent, Ealing, Hammersmith & Fulham, Harrow, Hillingdon, Hounslow and the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Each has joined forces to produce the West London Housing Strategy.

Investment in housing in west London - where the local economy is set to deliver an estimated 100,000 new jobs by 2016 - is crucial to ensuring the economic health of not only West London, but London as a whole. The potential shortfall in housing and, particularly affordable housing, is in danger of choking off this growth. There are also major issues of disrepair, growing problems of homelessness and challenges raised by increasing social diversity to be addressed.

The strategy demonstrates that the west London boroughs are in a position to jointly tackle these problems and to deliver on the aims of the Government’s Communities Plan. It will support the boroughs in bidding for and allocating resources for west London within the new London Housing Strategy. It will lobby to ensure that the large increase in resources set out in the Communities Plan is distributed effectively across London as a whole, and is not solely concentrated in the major growth areas, such as the Thames Gateway.

The four key aims identified in the strategy for the boroughs, up to 2012, are:

Increasing the supply of housing to meet the projected growth in population and employment

Increasing the supply of affordable homes

Improving the quality of housing and housing services across the public and private sector

Creating sustainable communities and promoting well-being

The Strategy recognises that each of the boroughs has differing historical and political contexts, but they all share similar challenges with regard to providing and improving housing. The Strategy strengthens their position for lobbying on housing issues and provides a framework for co-operation and collaboration between the seven boroughs and their partners. More than 400 organisations across London were consulted about the strategy and their feedback was built into the final document.

The open days at Hammersmith follow the successful launch of the strategy in March, by the then Housing Minister, Tony McNulty MP. He says: "The Government is totally committed to increasing the provision of affordable housing in London, and other housing hot spots. I welcome the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham’s Key Worker Strategy.

"It will help to underpin the provision of key services in the borough by assisting in the recruitment and retention of teachers, police and health workers who want to live near where they work. It is an excellent example of response to one of the most important housing issues affecting London today."

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