New transparency requirements have required Hammersmith and Fulham Council to release details of Social Housing Asset Value of the Council’s housing stock.
There are 258 council homes valued at over £1 million each. 14 are valued at over £1.5 million. One is valued at over £2 million.
The previous Conservative council had a policy of selling high value property when they became vacant. This meant that more replacement properties could be provided – for example “hidden homes” on council estates where there is spare land.
But the Labour Council refuses to sell any properties for ideological reasons. Meanwhile there are 1,172 families in temporary accommodation. Many more are in overcrowded conditions.
Holding on to expensive properties – rather than providing replacements to increase the total supply is a betrayal of those in severe housing need. The high maintenance costs of some of the properties makes the policy all the more foolish. New rules are coming in to end this scandalously poor asset management. But if the Council had any sense of responsibility they would immediately resume the policy of selling high value properties when they become vacant.
Hammersmith and Fulham Forum 
I’ve never understood why this isn’t a standard policy. In a Borough like LBHF with so many expensive properties it would be sensible to sell high value individual properties and use the cash to build multiple units.
There is a very tough discussion going on around cutting tax credits for working people, yet the borough is awash with £1mio+ homes for social housing tenants. Why? This is a scandalous waste of public money.
Another example of a skewed housing policy. Sell off all London housing over £750k and reinvest the money in sustainable housing on brown field sites. Tenants should be limited to 5 year tenancies to ensure turnover for the truly needy and prevent cheap ‘housing for life’ scenarios. Current policy is a scandalous waste of public money and guarantees that council tenants have no motivation to move. Wouldn’t we all like to be able to Iive in central London in subsidised housing?
Anna, under the last Conservative administration we brought in a series of housing reforms, including introducing five year fixed-term tenancies for the majority of new tenants into LBHF’s own housing stock. This offered the opportunity to review an individual tenant’s circumstances at the end of the five year period and re-assess their housing needs. In addition, we also ended the practice of passing-on a tenancy, or so-called inherited tenancies between generations of families. However, in a retrograde step, it seems as though the current Labour council is determined to bring back tenancies for life irrespective of housing need.