A decent affordable home for every Londoner

Brian Paddick and his Liberal Democrat team has said that part of the solution to the housing crisis is to
make better use of our existing assets, including empty homes.

He has pledged:

• To create an extra 40,000 homes in the spaces above London shops
• To bring empty homes in London back into use as affordable housing, insisting boroughs establish clear strategies for tackling empty properties and so bring 50,000 empty and underused properties back into use as housing.
• With retailers and transport companies, identify unused urban space above and around supermarkets and stations for affordable housing and make it easier for people living in social housing to move within London if they need to be nearer to employment opportunities or have caring responsibilities, by ensuring better housing mobility options for social housing tenants to end discretionary tax discounts for empty homes and second homes, to encourage more productive use of existing housing assets.

Improving housing is one of the best ways to reduce fuel poverty, increase environmental standards and address climate change. It is now widely recognised that poor housing has a big impact on health, while overcrowding affects educational achievement. Brian Paddick will:

1. Be ambitious to make larger developments achieve at least Code for Sustainable Homes Level 5 and require good liveable space standards.
2. Set a target for CO2 reduction in the existing housing stock and speed up action to roll out loft and cavity wall insulation.
3. Expand retrofitting schemes to see existing stock brought up to modern day standards, using the Government’s Green Deal initiative to drive take-up, including using new powers to force private residential landlords to undertake energy efficiency improvements.
4. Insist that a fair share of the national energy company obligation is ring fenced for London which is currently losing out through planning policy.