Green Party
leader Natalie Bennett will tomorrow highlight the desperate shortage of
affordable housing in London in a protest outside Mount Pleasant
development in Islington
The party says
this new development of 700 private flats is symbolic of Mayor Boris
Johnson’s strategy of prioritising homes for the super-rich whilst
ordinary Londoners are priced out of their homes.
Natalie Bennett commented:
Boris Johnson is once again riding roughshod over the people of London by privileging the profit of a developer over the need to provide ordinary Londoners with affordable homes. By providing only 12 per cent affordable housing in the new development, he's failing to allow for the development of a balanced community. He's not providing homes for the teachers, police officers, cleaners, and many other people who serve our communities, but setting up big profits for property speculators and private landlords. This public land should be put to community use with genuinely affordable council housing. That is why I ask all those who feel that it is time for change to join us Islington on Saturday 15th February from 10am.
Research from
the Mayor’s office shows that, despite the rise in homelessness and
overcrowded housing in London, two-thirds of all newly built properties
are being sold to investors – pushing up prices even further. The party
argues that the Mayor’s strategy of marketing new properties to rich
investors is completely inappropriate for a city where the median house
price is now three times the affordable limit for the average household.
