Rabbi Abraham Pinter: I hope Stamford Hill will stay multicultural

House prices: Homerton up 69%, Shoreditch up 53%, Clapton and Dalston up 39%

These figures from Lloyds TSB, which owns Halifax, show that since winning the Olympics bid house prices in Homerton are up by 69% and up by 53% in Shoreditch compared to the 36% London average.

While the research says that only four out of 14 "Olympic postal districts" (explained below) have beaten the London average of 36% increase over that period, all of these districts are in Hackney: Homerton 69%, Shoreditch 53%, Clapton and Dalston both 39%.

All the worst performers appear to be further east. The least impressive being Stratford, the one with greatest exposure to the Olympics. Up just 3%.

Comments at the end of this Telegraph piece discuss whether the rises have anything to do with the Olympics.

Last year Jules Pipe told Blood and Property that people moving to Hackney do not primarily see their homes as an investment:

Blood and Property: To what extent do you think that changes in the borough are related to property prices and new people moving here - how easily do you think that this process could be reversed (i.e. do you think that many hackney residents see their homes as investments or just as homes?)


Jules Pipe: "Hackney is a very popular borough for a variety of reasons, including its improving transport links, its vastly improved schools, popular leisure facilities such as London Fields Lido and its many parks, its status as a vibrant arts and cultural hub, amongst many other reasons.

"The Council’s research suggests that many of those moving into the borough since 2003 have been young, childless households on higher incomes than the current borough average, who rent privately. The impact of rising property prices in Hackney - as for London and the whole country - means that while owner-occupiers who bought during the past few decades will have benefited considerably from capital gains or opportunities to rent out their homes, the market has become very expensive for first-time buyers. This would suggest that the driving factor for today’s incomers is the desire to live in the borough, rather than seeking investment opportunities.

"The Council is committed to ensuring high quality, affordable housing for all Hackney residents. Right now across Hackney construction work is taking place to build hundreds of new social-rented and affordable homes, including council housing, after the Council lobbied the Government and received a total of over £43million in Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) funding since last September.

"For almost 30 years, affordable housing across the country often only got built as a spin-off of new private developments, and the downturn in the housing market threatened to bring even that to a halt. The commercial marketplace cannot be left as the only force to drive how housing is delivered. The Council has been working with the Government and its agencies and has successfully strengthened their confidence to give Hackney their social housing investment directly, so that we can deliver homes that are much needed by local residents."

'Postal districts' used to define the following fourteen postal districts that are located close to the site of the 2012 Olympic Park: Bethnal Green, Bow, Clapton, East Ham, Forest Gate, Dalston, Homerton, Leyton, Leytonstone, Manor Park, Plaistow, Shoreditch, Stratford and Walthamstow.

13% of Hackney's benefit cut victims will be ultra orthodox jewish

According to a council document, 213 of Hackney's 1,642 housing benefit claimants - whose rents will no longer be fully covered by benefits if government proposals go through - will be ultra orthodox Jewish (Charedi).

The next largest group to be affected by the cuts is white British with 92 claims affected.

The figures come from this document: (CDM_n2525299_v1_Item_5_-Housing_reform_briefing_paper_for_LiH, item 5. PDF 186 KB taken from the Living in Hackney Scrutiny Commission)

The extent of the Charedi community's dependence on large family homes is demonstrated by this statistic: in April 2009, when benefits payments were capped at five bedrooms (£550), 32 housing benefit claims were affected in Hackney. In other words 32 households that were claiming housing benefit were paying more than £550 per week in rent.

According to Hackney Council, 30 of those claims, or 94%, were from the Charedi community.

After the changes some of these claims fell short of their weekly rent by as much as £300 per week. Despite this the council reports that no applications were made for the extra help that was available to meet these changes.

The council said: "Analysis of these customers showed that 94% are from the Charedi Jewish community. No claims for a Discretionary Housing Payment were received from these claimants and none presented to the Housing Options and Advice Service."

Each of these claims is likely to involve large homes and large families and so the number of people affected by the changes could be much larger than the number of claims.

The wards worst affected are:

New River: 239 housing benefit claimants who are paying rent above the new caps (formerly a Conservative ward now just one Conservative councillor)

Springfield: 227 affected (Now represented by two Conservative councillors and one Labour)
Cazenove: 210 affected (Now represented by three Lib Dems)
Lordship: 164 affected (Now represented by one Conservative and two Labour)

This means that the majority of the councillors representing these wards come from the parties which imposed the cuts: 3 X Lib Dem and 4 X Conservative. This also happens to be all the Lib Dem and Conservative councillors with seats in Hackney Council.

The other wards are all represented by Labour councillors:
Leabridge has 112 housing benefit claimants who are paying rent above the new caps
Dalston: 84
Wick: 80
Chatham: 77
Hackney Downs: 71
Kings Park: 65
Hackney Central: 39
Stoke Newington Central: 35
Brownswood: 32
Clissold: 29
Hoxton: 29
DeBeauvoir: 28
Haggerston: 27
Queensbridge: 22
Victoria: 20

A link to Blood and Property report on the commons debate - led by Meg Hillier - on this issue which took place in the House of Commons on Monday.

Hackney legal team trips again AND Will budget spark Hackney exodus?

Blood and Property missed this story in the Telegraph: Apparently Hackney Council was forcing volunteer groups to pay £1000 for liability insurance before allowing them to work in Hackney parks.

The Telegraph's Public Policy Editor recently updated the story: "I am delighted to be able to report that Hackney’s officials appear to be having a change of heart on this matter. At a meeting on Friday, officials reported that Jules Pipe, the Mayor of Hackney, had been “in touch” with the legal department and the council’s lawyers had found a way round the problem"

Does Hackney Council have a policy on inhibiting green fingered residents?

It is certainly a reminder that all is not well in the borough's understaffed legal team which seemed to spend most of last month pursuing The Hackney Citizen into a PR disaster for the council.

Now at least Bambos Charalambous, in-house lawyer for Hackney Council is no longer responsible for running Enfield council as well. Following the elections in May he was made acting leader until Enfield's Labour Party could "find someone with a less demanding day job" (from The Lawyer)

That changeover seems to have happened and Bambos Charalambous is now Enfield's Cabinet Member for Young People, Culture, Leisure, Sports...

Budget: Hackney singled out by Channel 4 FactCheck blog:

In relation to this part of the budget: “We will for the first time introduce maximum limits on housing benefit – from £280 a week for a one-bedroom property to £400 a week for a four-bedroom or larger.”
George Osborne, Budget 2010 speech

"Labour MPs warn of a housing crisis in London and the South East, where rents are higher. For example, in parts of Hackney, the maximum housing benefit is £1,000 a week for a four bedroom house. Losing £600 a week would mean families currently claiming housing benefit would have to move to cheaper parts of London."

For a more in depth look at Hackney and the budget here's the Hackney Citizen's analysis

Nationwide: Hackney house prices up 22% in 12 months

According to a story in the Evening Standard, research by Nationwide Building Society showed:

"Prices rose faster in Hackney and Hammersmith & Fulham — both with 22 per cent increases — than anywhere else in the country. Property experts said the dramatic recovery in the London market was down to foreign investors cashing in on the weakness of the pound combined with higher salaries and bonuses in the City and a shortage of homes up for sale."

Hackney £518 per sq foot, Chelsea £690 per sq foot

Primelocation blog says: "Here’s what £1 million can buy you in ten of Britain’s largest cities:

"In Kensington and Chelsea, £1 million will get you 1,443 sq ft – that’s a two/three bed flat in a Victorian terrace conversion – working out as £690 per sq/ft.

"In Hackney, you’ll get slightly more: a three-bed Georgian terraced house of 1,928 sq ft, costing you £518 per sq ft."

WALFORD AND DALSTON - 436% rise in property prices...

According to research reported by Digital Spy: "Property prices on Albert Square (based of Fasset Square Dalston) have increased by 436% during EastEnders' 25 years on the air...

"The Walford homes were reportedly worth an average of £122,813 when the BBC soap first hit screens in 1985, but a typical Square residence would now cost £574,764."

5% in Hackney vs 26% UK average - young families who can afford a home

The Daily Mail reports that nearly 75% of young families cannot afford to buy their own homes in the UK. The report by the National Housing and Planning and Advice Unit said that this rose dramatically in inner-city boroughs like Hackney where 95% of young families cannot afford to get on the housing ladder. The figure could be even higher as the research used a 5% deposit as the normal minimum requirement for a mortgage. Mortgage lenders have raised this minimum requirement since the research was conducted.