Fear of return to council ‘ghettos’

Housing associations are to stop building mixed estates of privately owned and social rented homes because of the credit crunch, leading to fears of a return to ‘council ghettos’ says The Times. Bob Kerslake, head of Homes and Community Agency (HCA) said that during the past 20 years housing developments had a mix of 30 per cent social housing, 30 per cent private homes and 30 per cent shared ownership, but the significant financial risks from the credit crunch has made people reluctant to invest in housing developments. He said housing associations already have 10,000 homes for private sale or shared ownership that have not found buyers. Under latest plans, a third of homes on an estate will be social rented at very low rate, and the rest will be at subsidised intermediate rents – about 80 per cent of the market price – for low-income earners.