Southwark Council is the first in London to announce plans to prevent a loss of affordable housing in the area as a result of the Vacant Building Credit (VBC) scheme.

The Property Speculator

Cllr Mark Williams, Southwark Council’s cabinet member for regeneration, recently said of the scheme “this policy is deeply unjust and could potentially cost the people of Southwark thousands of affordable homes.”

The VBC was introduced in November last year and gives developers credit if they bring a vacant building back into use and they must also put money towards an affordable housing fund. But recently the scheme has received criticism due to developers being exempt from paying into the affordable housing fund if they build private housing which many developers are taking advantage of.

In order to make the scheme fairer, the council is setting out guidelines for what defines a building as vacant or in use, along with introducing policies that require applicants for development to prove that the building has been actively marketed for at least two years before they receive the VBC.

Cllr Williams went on to say “We are already doing all we can to meet the challenge and have built more affordable homes in the last three years than any other London borough, and are now building the first of our new 11,000 council homes. However, with a large number of upcoming developments based in and around vacant buildings, this policy could drastically reduce the number of affordable homes built in our borough.”

There are approximately 18,000 people currently on the waiting list for affordable housing in the borough and the council has warned that if the VBC scheme continues only a fraction of the affordable housing required could be delivered as opposed to the 35 percent required.

Surprisingly, there has been very little reaction from housing activist groups such as the 35% Campaign and Housing Action Southwark and Lambeth.