Is this our legacy? 20-20 vision: a load of posh tosh!

Viewing the cityscape from a virtual E20 balcony.

ELN: Mystery surrounds the Olympics housing legacy, with PR companies engaged in an aggressive sell of the housing at “East Village” – with its new “E20” postcode – which is due to come on stream in 2013. The East Village will provide a paltry 2,800 homes. Of these, just under half are designated “affordable homes” – with the balance of “unaffordable homes” being available for private rent or purchase.

Let’s put that in context: in 2011/12, Tower Hamlets had 23,136 households on its waiting list and was able to make just 2,679 lets. If Tower Hamlets were allocated all the affordable housing in East Village, it would get us just six months ahead on a ten year waiting list – enabling the Borough to house just 6% of its waiting list. Yet Tower Hamlets isn’t the only Borough competing for Olympic legacy housing: according to protocols agreed by previous Labour Administrations, the Borough will receive just a handful of those homes.

As for the unaffordable housing: there’ll be no shortage of people desperate to rent, as they look at the long queues for social housing. Nor will there be a shortage of buyers: particularly small scale landlords, who will put their acquisitions right back on to the lucrative private rental market.

The mystery, therefore, is why PR companies are putting so much time, effort and money into marketing the properties.

This week, ELN was telephoned by a PR company trying to persuade us to run a reader competition. The prize? A chance to take a virtual tour of the social housing at an open day in Shoreditch. There must be between 50,000 and 100,000 households on the Olympic Boroughs’ waiting lists who are desperately chasing those 1,379 affordable homes. Why were they playing with people’s emotions – promising a virtual tour of property they have a 3% chance of getting? The young woman ringing us didn’t know. She just kept telling us how lovely the properties would be and how she had been told to drum up interest.

Hot on the heels of her phone call came a bizarre press release from another company telling us how swish the unaffordable housing will be. It will have:

lvast areas of outdoor space;

lworld class sporting facilities;

lhighly rated education at the new Chobham Academy;

lstate of the art medical facilities;

l30 neighbourhood cafés, restaurants and shops (including close proximity of Westfield Stratford City);

lexcellent transport links.

If we have outdoor space in Tower Hamlets, we usually have to build on it. We could build more sporting facilities: but our budget was hit by having to contribute to the Olympic venues. The Government won’t let us build enough schools for all our children – though it will fund free schools to provide the places. The state of the art Royal London Hospital is gobbling up money to fund its PFI backers and other health services in the borough are threatened. Our cafes, restaurants and shops saw business fall during the Olympics – on levels already depressed by the dreadful economy. We can probably compete with East Village on transport!

The Centre for Economics and Business Research (Cebr) has produced a report evaluating the new E20 postcode. Cebr analyst Osman Ismail said:

“This much-maligned corner of east London, neglected for decades, is set to become a success story. The regeneration associated with the Olympic Games will soon give rise to one of London’s most exciting residential areas.

“It’s an outstanding living environment, contributing much to the broader regeneration of east London. Our prediction is that E20, and East Village in particular, will be a highly desirable place to live.

“The neighbourhood will suit a range of needs: families who want more space, professionals who want a safe and desirable place to live, and key workers and ex-service personnel who want high-quality homes in a thriving area.

“Our research indicates that, based on its unique combination of assets, E20 will compete with the likes of Hammersmith and Highbury, and offer its residents far more than many established London hot-spots.”

Of course it will be desirable, Osman: for the few who win the social housing lottery, and for the few who can afford to buy.  Amazing what vast amounts of public subsidy will do for you, isn’t it?  Welcome to our legacy.