During the summer of 2018 members of the our Housing sub-group conducted a survey of Haringey residents and workers to find out their views on housing at St Ann’s Hospital, the landmark GLA development site.
Over 600 people gave their views, through online and face-to-face consultations, on different aspects of StART’s plan for affordable homes allocation at St Ann’s –that is twice the number that responded to a similar survey conducted by Haringey council.
The survey found that:
• 88% of local people responded in support of StART’s aim to build a community at St Ann’s in which all residents would play an active part.
• 79% want to see people with a local connection prioritised for homes on the site.
• Homes should go to households with low or average incomes for the area, with income and savings limits ensuring this for all affordable rented homes.
• The St Ann’s project should continue with a “health legacy” by reserving some homes for local health care workers.
Voice of the Community
This survey is the voice of the community, and what the community is calling for is genuinely affordable housing that benefits local people.
Genuinely affordable housing is a huge issue in Haringey, as the council continues to push through with large amounts of regeneration in the area. More and more local people are calling for the housing needs of local residents to be addressed and the GLA has the opportunity of including local voices in setting the terms of the St Ann’s development.
About the survey findings:
Almost all of the respondents – 88 per cent – supported StART’s aim to build a community at St Ann’s in which all residents would play an active part. Some added comments suggested that this could not be forced and if StART is given a leading role in the project they should offer incentives for people to get involved in mutual aid and community-building.
StART’s proposal that homes should be available only to households with a local connection through prior residence or work was endorsed by four out of five respondents (79%). Many of those not agreeing with this policy wanted consideration given to specific categories of households without a local connection, for example, people fleeing domestic violence or who had recently been granted refugee status.
We asked how far respondents agreed with our proposed income limits for households applying for rented homes. These comprised different upper limits for household incomes for applications for homes of different sizes. Around half felt the proposed levels were “about right”, while another third agreed with the approach but wanted to look again at local income levels on which the limits were based.
In addition to StART’s commitment to making the whole site a safe, green and healthy environment, a majority agreed with the proposal to reserve some homes for health workers, although there was a range of views on how large this commitment should be.
If you would like to get involved in our work or join one of our sub-groups working on a variety of different issues, email us at info@startharingey.co.uk
here.