Hackney Council is implementing one of London’s most ambitious housing transformation programmes, combining large-scale regeneration projects with innovative affordability solutions and sustainable transport infrastructure. The borough faces acute housing pressures with over 8,500 households on the waiting list and 3,449 households in temporary accommodation, yet remains committed to delivering genuinely affordable homes while pioneering micromobility solutions that reshape urban living.
Housing Crisis and Affordability Challenges
Hackney confronts a severe housing affordability crisis that locks out residents on average incomes from both ownership and private renting. The average house price reached £590,000 as of June 2024, representing 18.5 times the average household income of £31,580. Private rents soared to an average of £2,361 per month in July 2024, making market-rate accommodation unaffordable for most working families. This affordability gap drives unprecedented demand for social housing, with waiting times averaging over 20 years for some property types.
The borough comprises 43 percent social renters, 32.4 percent private renters, and just 24.6 percent owner-occupiers including shared ownership. This housing tenure distribution reflects both historical council housing provision and contemporary barriers to homeownership. Hackney ranks as the second most deprived borough across London, with housing insecurity contributing significantly to broader economic challenges facing residents.
The Strategic Housing Market Assessment identifies a need for 3,342 affordable dwellings annually, yet the borough delivers only 1,780 units per year, creating a substantial supply deficit. Average waiting times demonstrate the severity of this shortage: three years for one-bedroom properties, twelve years for two-bedroom units, and an extraordinary 39 years for five-bedroom properties. These extended timelines force families into inappropriate accommodation or expensive private rentals while awaiting social housing allocations.
Housing Strategy 2025-2040
Hackney is developing a comprehensive Housing Strategy 2025-2040 that will guide housing priorities for the next fifteen years. The strategy builds on extensive evidence gathering including a Strategic Housing Market Assessment, housing needs surveys conducted in 2023, and focus groups with residents to understand community needs. This evidence base provides robust data for planning future housing interventions aligned with both local requirements and national policy frameworks.
The strategy addresses seven priority areas: Housing Services and Council Homes, Affordable Housing and Regeneration, Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation, Private Sector Housing and Housing Association Partnerships, Supported Housing and Supported Living, Housing Design and Sustainability, and Places and Communities. Each priority area responds to specific challenges while contributing to the overarching goal of ensuring everyone in Hackney has access to genuinely affordable, good quality, safe housing.
The Position Statement for 2024-25 bridges the gap between the previous 2017-22 strategy and the forthcoming long-term plan. It acknowledges significant challenges including the cost of living crisis, pandemic fallout, severe inflation, the 2020 cyberattack, and regulatory compliance issues identified by the Housing Ombudsman and Regulator of Social Housing. The council received a C3 grade from the Housing Regulator for failing to meet consumer standards, prompting the Housing Improvement Plan to address deficiencies in repairs, damp and mould remediation, and complaint handling.
The new strategy will align with the London Plan review, the Renters Reform Bill, and changes to the National Planning Policy Framework. This alignment ensures Hackney’s housing policies complement regional and national frameworks while addressing borough-specific needs. The strategy will be produced in tandem with the Local Plan review in 2025, ensuring planning and housing documents work together coherently.
Council Home Building Programme
Since 2011, Hackney has directly built council homes after decades of relying solely on housing associations for new social housing. The council has completed or started construction on 2,036 new homes as of August 2024, working toward a target of 3,000 homes by 2026. Between 2018 and 2022, the council started, completed, or received planning permission for 1,984 homes, with more than half designated for social rent, shared ownership, or Hackney Living Rent.
The Housing Supply Programme continues delivering new council homes across multiple sites despite significant challenges from Brexit, the coronavirus pandemic, new building safety regulations, and severe inflation. These factors stalled progress on several sites, requiring delivery teams to implement recovery strategies to accelerate construction. The council maintains its commitment to building high-quality, genuinely affordable homes while navigating difficult economic conditions.
Estate regeneration programmes at Kings Crescent, Marian Court, and Colville Estate provide comprehensive neighbourhood renewal alongside new housing delivery. These schemes guarantee existing residents the right to return to brand-new council or housing association homes for rent or purchase. On council schemes, the authority prioritizes local people for shared ownership and outright sale properties, ensuring regeneration benefits existing communities rather than displacing them.
The award-winning Chowdhury Walk scheme demonstrates Hackney’s commitment to design excellence in council housing. The development won the RIBA London Award 2024, RIBA National Award 2024, and received shortlisting for the Stephen Lawrence Prize 2024, RIBA Neave Brown Award for Housing, and RIBA Stirling Prize 2024. This recognition validates Hackney’s approach of combining high-quality architecture with affordable housing provision, proving social housing can achieve design excellence.
Innovative Affordable Housing Delivery
Hackney is exploring innovative delivery mechanisms to accelerate affordable housing creation. The Asset Review team identified fifteen new sites for housing delivery, repurposing underutilized land including garage blocks and car parks. This programme will deliver approximately 400 council homes, with 75 percent designated for social rent. The October 2025 procurement seeks contractors for the 341-home regeneration scheme transforming these underused spaces into family housing.
The Town Centre Sites programme undertakes feasibility studies for nine council-owned sites in Dalston and Hackney Central to determine redevelopment capacity. Significant opportunities exist to deliver an additional 350 social rent homes alongside new workspaces, retail, leisure, and community facilities. This integrated approach ensures town centre regeneration creates vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods rather than isolated residential developments.
The Woodberry Down regeneration scheme, delivered in partnership with Notting Hill Genesis and Berkeley Homes, represents one of London’s largest estate renewal programmes. Over twenty years, the scheme will provide more than 5,500 new homes with comprehensive community facilities and improved public spaces. Phase 3 Part 1 completed in September 2024, delivering 243 homes for shared ownership and social rent. Phase 4 received planning approval for 90 social rent homes and 132 shared ownership homes, continuing the programme’s momentum.
The Dalston Plan, adopted in 2025, provides a fifteen-year vision for the area shaped by over 7,000 residents, businesses, and organizations. The plan safeguards Ridley Road street market with a £1 million upgrade completed in 2023, protects Dalston Eastern Curve Garden as a community asset, and mandates genuinely affordable housing in new developments. The plan requires 600 new homes with at least half designated as genuinely affordable, protecting Dalston’s character while accommodating growth.
Intermediate Housing and Hackney Living Rent
Hackney recognizes intermediate housing plays a crucial role in preventing the borough from “hollowing out in the middle” by serving only income extremes. The council commissioned an Intermediate Housing Panel comprising leading academics, industry experts, and development partners to examine intermediate housing’s role in the borough. While the tenure faces affordability challenges with prices rising alongside market rates, the Strategic Housing Market Assessment identifies clear ongoing demand.
Hackney Living Rent provides an intermediate option priced at one-third of local incomes, significantly more affordable than private renting or shared ownership. For social rent council homes, genuinely affordable means average rents of £97 per week, five times less than private renting. Shared ownership homes are marketed as more affordable than renting equivalent properties privately, though rising house prices challenge even these intermediate options.
The council’s Sales team secured nomination agreements with housing association partners delivering Hackney Living Rent, bringing forward eighteen units through the Mayor of Hackney’s Housing Challenge Funding. The team provides consultancy to other boroughs, sharing expertise on marketing intermediate products and expanding the model’s reach. However, intermediate housing’s long-term viability requires addressing affordability challenges as property values and rents continue rising faster than incomes.
First-time buyers, young people, and key workers struggle most with intermediate housing affordability. Focus groups conducted in 2023 highlighted housing as the top priority across the borough, with participants emphasizing the need for options between social renting and market-rate purchasing. Without viable intermediate solutions, essential workers including teachers, nurses, and emergency services staff cannot afford to live in the communities they serve.
Addressing Homelessness and Temporary Accommodation
Over 3,449 households currently live in temporary accommodation across Hackney, representing a 77 percent increase since 2018 with an 8 percent year-on-year rise continuing. This escalating homelessness crisis places severe financial strain on council budgets, with temporary accommodation net expenditure projected to reach £28 million in 2025 compared to £7.8 million the previous year. Rising numbers reflect broader housing market failures, with frozen Local Housing Allowance rates and increasing private rents pushing more households into homelessness.
More than one-third of temporary accommodation placements are now outside the borough, with family-sized accommodation often available only outside London in areas like the West Midlands. Out-of-borough placements disrupt children’s education, separate families from employment and support networks, and impose additional travel costs on already-struggling households. The council recognizes this as unsustainable and is actively seeking solutions to provide more in-borough temporary accommodation.
The council is examining its own land holdings, underused buildings, and meanwhile sites to deliver high-quality temporary accommodation within Hackney. Grant funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government supports delivery of numerous temporary accommodation homes throughout 2024-26. The council also operates hostel-type accommodation both within and outside the borough, though demand far exceeds available supply.
Hackney advocates for national policy changes to make the Private Rented Sector more affordable and secure. The Renters Reform Bill introduces overdue protections including abolition of Section 21 no-fault evictions, but affordability challenges persist with frozen Local Housing Allowance failing to keep pace with market rents. Unfreezing LHA would immediately improve affordability for low-income households and reduce homelessness pressures.
Private Sector Housing Strategy
The Private Sector Housing Strategy 2025-30 sets out how Hackney will improve housing and management standards in the private rented sector, which houses 32.4 percent of borough residents. The strategy has four themes: improving property and management standards, increasing supply and access to good quality affordable privately rented homes, ensuring housing standards contribute to better health outcomes, and ensuring Hackney is a place where people are proud to live.
The council is consulting on proposals to introduce additional and selective licensing for the private rented sector across Hackney. This licensing scheme would require landlords to meet minimum standards for property conditions, management practices, and tenant safety. An independent evidence base documents poor conditions justifying licensing intervention, complementing existing landlord accreditation schemes, landlord forums, and enforcement activities.
The Better Deal for Renters campaign highlights challenges facing private tenants including excessive rents, poor property conditions, and insecure tenancies. With average monthly rents of £2,361, private renting consumes disproportionate shares of household incomes, leaving families struggling to afford other essentials. Licensing aims to raise standards across the sector, ensuring all privately rented homes meet basic safety and quality thresholds.
Housing associations partner with the council through a Compact drafted jointly to improve partnership working and align principles and priorities. This Compact promotes equality of service across the borough, recognizing that housing associations and the council together manage all social housing in Hackney. Coordinated approaches ensure residents receive consistent service quality regardless of their landlord.
Regeneration Projects Transforming Communities
Hackney Central received over £19 million from the UK government’s Levelling Up Fund in 2023 to support town centre growth and ensure everyone benefits from new development. The Hackney Central Town Centre Strategy guides this investment through four priorities: a greener Hackney Central, a creative Hackney Central, a growing Hackney Central, and a thriving Hackney Central. The strategy emerged from extensive consultation including the Hackney Central Conversation engaging thousands of local people.
The funding will improve the town centre, create better public spaces, provide new facilities for residents, support local business growth, and make the area greener. The strategy includes five missions: champion our character by broadening cultural and heritage activities, support wellbeing for all through spaces and services enabling health and safety, ensure a fair economy working for local people, put in place measures fighting climate change toward zero carbon, and ensure residents engage in and influence their area’s future.
The Stamford Hill Area Action Plan, currently in development, aims to deliver approximately 400 affordable housing units through proposed site allocations. The council works collaboratively with landowners to ensure development meets community needs while respecting the area’s distinctive character and accommodating the large Orthodox Jewish community. The completed Tower Court scheme, featuring 132 new homes with special features for the Orthodox Jewish community developed through local consultation, demonstrates this tailored approach.
The Future Shoreditch Area Action Plan, scheduled for submission to government by autumn 2025, will guide development in one of London’s most dynamic neighborhoods. Balancing housing delivery against employment floorspace needs presents particular challenges in Shoreditch, where creative industries and tech sectors compete with residential development for limited land. The action plan will establish frameworks ensuring both housing and employment needs are met.
Micromobility Policy and Sustainable Transport
Hackney is pioneering micromobility solutions integrated with housing and regeneration planning to reduce car dependency and improve environmental outcomes. The borough maintains over 230 cycle hire bays across Hackney where residents can pick up and park dockless e-bikes from providers Lime and Voi. This extensive network ensures convenient access to shared bikes without blocking pavements or creating hazards for pedestrians and people with disabilities.
Voi rides within Hackney are capped at £1.75 for 30 minutes, matching London bus fares and making e-bikes cost-competitive with public transport. Lime offers discounted rides through LimePass+ subscriptions, while lower-income residents and key workers access Lime Access providing 70 percent discounts. These pricing structures ensure micromobility remains accessible across income levels rather than serving only affluent residents.
Riders must park bikes in designated cycle hire bays at journey end, taking photos to confirm correct parking. Failure to follow parking guidelines results in warnings or fines, with the council maintaining strict enforcement to prevent pavement obstruction. Residents can report improperly parked bikes through operator apps or directly to Lime and Voi, ensuring rapid response to parking violations.
Santander Cycles operates in southern Hackney with docking stations around Regent’s Canal and Victoria Park, offering both electric and non-electric bikes. This Transport for London scheme costs £1.65 for the first 30 minutes with £1.65 for each additional 30 minutes, while e-bikes cost £3.30 for the first 30 minutes. The integration of multiple cycle hire schemes provides residents and visitors diverse micromobility options.
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods Transformation
Hackney has introduced nineteen Low Traffic Neighbourhoods since 2020, covering over 70 percent of eligible roads and 50 percent of the borough’s total area, more than any other London borough. LTNs reduce through-traffic on residential streets using traffic filters typically marked by planters, allowing cyclists, emergency vehicles, and waste vehicles to pass through. Blue Badge holders can drive through some filters, ensuring disabled residents maintain access while reducing overall traffic volumes.
LTN implementation followed the pandemic to support people walking, cycling, and shopping locally while rebuilding a greener Hackney. All addresses remain accessible by car, but through-traffic is eliminated, creating cleaner, quieter, and greener neighborhoods. Research evaluating LTN impacts found decreased traffic speeds and volumes on LTN streets, with boundary street traffic volumes not increasing in most cases contrary to critics’ predictions.
The Transport Strategy 2026-2036, currently under development, will guide Hackney’s transport future over the next decade. Public consultation in 2025 gathered resident and business views on key transport issues grouped into three categories: transport basics connecting places, safer greener and healthier transport, and fair transport ensuring accessibility for all. The strategy recognizes that 87 percent of trips in Hackney use public transport, walking, or cycling, with continued efforts to reduce the remaining car dependency.
Nearly 20 percent of Hackney’s CO2 emissions come from surface transport, requiring a challenging 27 percent traffic reduction to meet the Mayor of London’s Net Zero 2030 target. This exceeds the traffic reduction achieved over the previous twenty years, necessitating ambitious interventions including expanded LTNs, improved cycling infrastructure, enhanced public transport, and car-use reduction strategies. The Transport Strategy will establish frameworks achieving these reductions while maintaining accessibility.
Cycling Infrastructure and Active Travel
Hackney is expanding cycling infrastructure to support the 87 percent of trips currently made by sustainable modes. The council approved plans in 2023 to install 600 new secure bike hangars by 2026, addressing the storage barrier that prevents many residents from cycling. On-street bike hangars provide secure storage for residents without private outdoor space, protecting bikes from theft and weather while freeing hallways and living spaces from bike storage.
The council works with Transport for London to improve cycling routes connecting Hackney to neighboring boroughs and central London. Investments in green and sustainable transport including improved cycling and pedestrian routes tackle climate change impacts and improve air quality. School Streets have been implemented at all Hackney primary schools, with the programme expanding to secondary schools, creating safer environments for children cycling or walking to school.
Car clubs operate 180 active back-to-bay vehicles and 80 floating flex vehicles across Hackney, with three providers: Zipcar, Enterprise, and HiyaCar. The council aims to ensure all residents are within close proximity of car club vehicles, with 35 percent of the fleet already electric as of February 2025. The target is 50 percent zero tailpipe emission vehicles by 2025, supporting residents who need occasional car access without full vehicle ownership.
Cargo bike infrastructure is developing to support last-mile deliveries and family transportation. Cargo bikes require suitable infrastructure including cycle lanes, parking, and storage space for goods handling. Supporting cargo bike adoption reduces delivery van traffic while providing practical alternatives to car ownership for families needing to transport children or shopping.
Housing Design and Sustainability
Hackney Council delivers award-winning, climate-friendly new homes while investing in retrofitting existing stock to meet net zero commitments. About 21 percent of borough emissions come from energy use in buildings, primarily gas and electricity for heating and powering residential and non-residential properties. Retrofitting existing buildings to improve energy efficiency is essential for tackling the climate emergency, reducing fuel poverty, and creating comfortable homes promoting better physical and mental health.
The retrofit process typically involves ensuring buildings are dry and free from damp, switching from gas to all-electric systems including induction cookers and heat pumps, improving building fabric through draught proofing and loft insulation, and generating renewable energy through solar panels. The council published Residential Retrofit Guidance providing detailed specifications for retrofitting different building types while avoiding unintended consequences like moisture problems.
The Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund supports retrofit works on social rented properties, improving energy performance and tackling fuel poverty while upgrading housing quality. A full stock condition survey is underway to assess all tenanted properties by financial year 2027-28, identifying damp and mould issues while establishing baseline data for retrofit planning. This comprehensive survey ensures investments target properties with greatest needs and highest potential impacts.
A pioneering rooftop solar panel scheme launched in 2025 enables council estate residents to purchase discounted energy directly from solar panels on their buildings. The first project of its kind in the UK, the scheme uses innovative microgrid solutions to supply rooftop-generated solar electricity directly to flat residents. Installation of 4,000 solar panels on 28 blocks across three estates began in January 2025, initially giving 800 households access to energy priced approximately 15 percent below market rates.
Inclusive Community Engagement
The Resident Engagement Strategy approved in December 2022 sets out five strategic priorities ensuring residents’ voices are understood and acted upon, encouraging more residents to shape service delivery and building stronger communities. The strategy covers all residents in council-owned homes including tenants, leaseholders, private renters, freeholders, and shared owners. Extensive consultation with residents and housing services staff informed the strategy’s development.
The strategy provides opportunities to target resources and strengthen partnership working to address challenges social housing residents face including health issues, isolation, employment barriers, education access, and systemic inequality. It embraces digital communication forms while strengthening support for residents’ groups including tenants and residents’ associations and neighborhood panels. This dual approach ensures both digitally connected and digitally excluded residents can participate meaningfully.
The Housing Improvement Plan addresses regulatory compliance failures identified by the Housing Ombudsman and Regulator of Social Housing. Four key themes guide improvement: Response to Regulation, Workforce Development, Resident Focus, and Systems and Data. The plan aims to deliver fully compliant services that are appropriately staffed and deliver value for money, with inclusive and accountable leadership culture. Customer insight improvements enable trauma-informed services and user-designed principles while working effectively with partner agencies.
Hackney demonstrates commitment to armed forces veterans by exploring expanded lettings policy provisions in the new Housing Strategy, aiming to achieve two nominations for veterans annually. This recognizes veterans’ service while addressing housing needs among this cohort who may face challenges transitioning to civilian life.
Economic Development Integration
The Economic Development Plan 2025-2030 integrates with housing and regeneration strategies to ensure development delivers employment opportunities alongside homes. The plan addresses how regeneration funding will deliver programmes improving air quality, enhancing public realm, and creating better facilities supporting economic activity. This integration ensures housing developments contribute to economic vitality rather than creating dormitory communities.
Dalston’s Ridley Road Market received £1 million investment for public realm improvements completed in 2023, protecting this vital community asset supporting local businesses and street traders. The Dalston Plan ensures new development incorporates shops without losing street market pitches, maintaining the market’s role as an affordable shopping destination and employment source. Protecting existing economic infrastructure ensures regeneration benefits current residents and businesses.
Supporting Dalston’s creative and night-time economy features prominently in regeneration planning, helping cultural and creative spaces thrive while making the area safer and more inclusive. This balances economic growth with community safety, recognizing that thriving evening economies require well-managed public spaces where all residents feel safe. Hackney’s reputation as a creative hub depends on maintaining affordable workspaces alongside affordable housing.
The council’s affordable housing policy requires 50 percent affordable housing on developments of ten or more units, with smaller developments making financial contributions. This policy, established in the Local Plan LP33 adopted in July 2020, aims to deliver 26,250 new homes and 23,000 new jobs by 2033. However, some developers challenge viability, arguing 50 percent affordability conflicts with landowner returns, creating ongoing tensions between policy aspirations and market realities.
Addressing Systemic Barriers
Hackney acknowledges that housing crisis impacts vary depending on resources available to households, driving inequality across the borough. Young people and those on low and middle incomes are locked out of property ownership and struggle with high increasing rents. The more residents struggle, the greater demand for council services, creating cyclical pressures on already-stretched resources.
The council reformed its allocations policy in recent years, reducing the housing register from over 13,000 to approximately 8,500 by removing applicants with no realistic prospect of securing social tenancies. This controversial change aimed to reduce member casework from frustrated residents unsuccessful in bidding, though critics argue it obscures the true scale of housing need. The revised scheme categorizes applicants into bands with emergency needs receiving direct offers rather than bidding opportunities.
Identifying and addressing barriers facing residents with additional needs represents a priority workstream. The council is developing a policy supporting residents with additional needs to thrive, with related data requirements enabling targeted interventions. Staff training programmes ensure housing teams can identify vulnerabilities and make appropriate referrals to support services, adopting trauma-informed approaches recognizing the stress housing insecurity creates.
The council works to reduce rent arrears during the cost of living crisis, recognizing that housing costs compete with food, fuel, and other essentials for limited household budgets. The Household Support Fund provides emergency funding for food and fuel costs for residents in financial hardship, preventing rent arrears that could lead to eviction. However, structural solutions require national policy changes including unfreezing Local Housing Allowance and increasing wages to match housing costs.
Future Challenges and Opportunities
National planning policy reforms under the current government aim to deliver 1.5 million homes over five years, with Hackney committed to contributing its share. The council responded to consultations on National Planning Policy Framework reforms, supporting emphasis on social housing and provision for children in care. However, translating targets into actual delivery requires addressing funding challenges, build cost inflation, and land availability constraints.
The Local Plan review scheduled for 2025 will be produced alongside the new Housing Strategy, ensuring planning and housing policies align. This coordination enables comprehensive approaches addressing both development frameworks and housing need, preventing situations where planning permissions are granted for housing types that don’t address priority needs. The review will examine how local social housing targets are set, ensuring they reflect actual need rather than artificially constrained supply.
Hackney faces the worst financial situation in decades, with austerity, inflation, and temporary accommodation costs creating severe budget pressures. Balancing housing investment against other essential services including education, social care, and community safety presents difficult choices. The council must demonstrate that housing investments deliver value for money while addressing the most acute needs, requiring robust prioritization frameworks and performance monitoring.
Climate change adaptation and mitigation must be integrated throughout housing planning and delivery. Rising temperatures require buildings designed to prevent overheating, while flood risk increases demand resilience measures. The transition to zero carbon heating through heat pumps and hydrogen faces infrastructure challenges and upfront costs, though long-term benefits include reduced fuel poverty and emissions reductions essential for meeting Net Zero targets.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Hackney’s affordable housing target and how is it defined?
Hackney requires 50 percent affordable housing on developments of 10 or more units, as set out in Local Plan policy LP33 adopted in July 2020. For schemes with 1 to 9 units, developers can provide on-site affordable housing or make financial contributions of £60,000 per unit in the City Fringe area or £50,000 per unit elsewhere in the borough. Genuinely affordable housing in Hackney means social rent averaging £97 per week, Hackney Living Rent set at one-third of local incomes, or shared ownership more affordable than renting equivalent homes privately.
How long is the wait for social housing in Hackney?
Average waiting times for social housing in Hackney now exceed 20 years overall, with significant variation by property size. One-bedroom properties average three-year waits, two-bedroom properties twelve years, and five-bedroom properties an extraordinary 39 years. Only 570 social housing lets became available to housing register applicants between April 2022 and March 2023, while over 8,500 households remain on the waiting list. The severe shortage means most applicants in lower priority bands have no realistic prospect of securing social tenancies.
What is Hackney Living Rent and who can access it?
Hackney Living Rent is an intermediate housing tenure priced at one-third of local household incomes, making it significantly more affordable than market renting or purchasing. The council’s housing company and housing association partners deliver Hackney Living Rent homes, with 18 units coming forward through the Mayor of Hackney’s Housing Challenge Funding. This tenure targets working households priced out of homeownership but earning too much for social housing, including key workers, first-time buyers, and young people. Applicants must meet income thresholds and demonstrate local connections to Hackney.
How does Hackney’s micromobility policy work with housing developments?
Hackney has created over 230 cycle hire bays across the borough where residents can pick up and park dockless e-bikes from Lime and Voi. Rides are capped at £1.75 for 30 minutes matching bus fares, with 70 percent discounts available for lower-income residents and key workers through Lime Access. New housing developments incorporate cycle parking, bike hangars, and connections to cycle infrastructure, reducing car dependency. The Transport Strategy 2026-2036 aims to achieve a 27 percent traffic reduction by integrating housing and transport planning to create car-lite neighborhoods.
What regeneration projects are currently underway in Hackney?
Major regeneration projects include Woodberry Down delivering over 5,500 homes in partnership with Notting Hill Genesis and Berkeley Homes, estate regeneration at Kings Crescent, Marian Court, and Colville Estate, and 400 new council homes on 15 sites repurposing underused garages and car parks. Hackney Central received £19 million government funding for town centre improvements, while the Dalston Plan guides 600 new homes including protected community assets like Ridley Road Market. The Town Centre Sites programme examines nine council-owned sites for potential development delivering 350 additional social rent homes alongside workspaces.
How is Hackney addressing temporary accommodation pressures?
Hackney houses 3,449 households in temporary accommodation with numbers rising 8 percent year-on-year, costing the council a projected £28 million in 2025. The council is identifying underused buildings and land to deliver high-quality in-borough temporary accommodation, reducing reliance on out-of-borough placements currently housing over one-third of families. Grant funding from the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government supports delivery throughout 2024-26. The council advocates for national policy changes including unfreezing Local Housing Allowance to make private renting more affordable and reduce homelessness.
What sustainability features are included in new Hackney housing?
All new council housing meets high environmental standards with features including heat pumps replacing gas boilers, excellent insulation and draught proofing, solar panels for renewable energy generation, and efficient building design minimizing energy consumption. The award-winning Chowdhury Walk scheme demonstrates design excellence compatible with sustainability. Existing council homes are being retrofitted through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund with 4,000 solar panels installed on 28 blocks enabling 800 households to purchase discounted solar electricity through innovative microgrid technology, the first scheme of its kind in the UK.
How can residents participate in housing strategy development?
The Resident Engagement Strategy approved in December 2022 creates multiple participation channels including tenants and residents’ associations, neighborhood panels, consultation on specific strategies and developments, focus groups informing evidence base development, and digital engagement platforms. The Housing Strategy 2025-2040 development included focus groups, surveys, and consultations with thousands of residents. The Transport Strategy 2026-2036 consultation in 2025 gathered views on key issues with a full draft strategy consultation scheduled for autumn 2025. Residents can join associations, attend consultations, and respond to surveys shaping housing and transport policies.
What is the Housing Improvement Plan addressing?
The Housing Improvement Plan responds to regulatory failures identified by the Housing Ombudsman and Regulator of Social Housing, addressing damp and mould, repairs backlogs, complaint handling, and consumer standards compliance. Four key themes guide improvements: Response to Regulation ensuring compliance, Workforce Development creating skilled teams, Resident Focus delivering trauma-informed services, and Systems and Data modernizing housing management. A complete stock condition survey assesses all properties by 2027-28, while process improvements address leaks, repairs journeys, and response times. The council is now compliant with four of five regulatory areas.
How does Hackney balance housing delivery with other planning priorities?
The Local Plan LP33 targets 26,250 new homes and 23,000 new jobs by 2033, requiring balanced approaches ensuring both housing and employment needs are met. The council must balance housing delivery against employment floorspace demands, infrastructure requirements, and non-conventional housing pressures. Area Action Plans for Stamford Hill, Dalston, and Shoreditch provide frameworks for mixed-use development incorporating housing, workspaces, retail, leisure, and community facilities. The 2025 Local Plan review will examine these balances, ensuring planning frameworks support comprehensive neighborhood development rather than single-use zones.
AI Overview
Hackney Council is implementing a transformative housing blueprint addressing acute affordability challenges through ambitious council home building, innovative intermediate tenure options, and integrated sustainable transport planning. The average house price of £590,000 stands at 18.5 times average household income of £31,580, with private rents averaging £2,361 monthly, creating severe affordability pressures. The Housing Strategy 2025-2040 currently under development targets multiple priorities including delivering 1,000 new social rent homes between 2022-26, with 400 homes on 15 sites repurposing underused garages and car parks. Hackney has completed or started construction on 2,036 council homes since resuming direct building in 2011, working toward 3,000 homes by 2026. The award-winning Chowdhury Walk scheme won RIBA London and National Awards 2024, demonstrating design excellence in social housing. Over 8,500 households wait for social housing with average waiting times exceeding 20 years, while 3,449 households occupy temporary accommodation costing the council a projected £28 million in 2025. Major regeneration includes Woodberry Down delivering 5,500 homes in partnership with Berkeley Homes and Notting Hill Genesis, estate renewal at Kings Crescent, Marian Court and Colville, and £19 million government investment in Hackney Central town centre. The Dalston Plan adopted in 2025 guides 600 new homes protecting Ridley Road Market and Dalston Eastern Curve Garden. Hackney Living Rent provides intermediate housing at one-third of local incomes between social rent and market rates. The Private Sector Housing Strategy 2025-30 proposes additional and selective licensing across the borough to improve property standards. Micromobility infrastructure includes over 230 cycle hire bays for Lime and Voi e-bikes capped at £1.75 for 30 minutes matching bus fares, with 70 percent discounts for lower-income residents. Nineteen Low Traffic Neighbourhoods cover 70 percent of eligible roads reducing through-traffic while maintaining access. The Transport Strategy 2026-2036 targets 27 percent traffic reduction to meet Net Zero 2030 with 600 new bike hangars by 2026. Sustainability initiatives include retrofitting council homes through the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund and pioneering rooftop solar microgrid technology on 28 blocks enabling 800 households to purchase electricity 15 percent below market rates. The Housing Improvement Plan addresses regulatory compliance failures in damp and mould, repairs, and complaint handling following Housing Ombudsman investigation and C3 grade from Housing Regulator. Stock condition surveys assess all properties by 2027-28 identifying retrofit priorities. The Local Plan requires 50 percent affordable housing on developments of 10-plus units targeting 26,250 homes and 23,000 jobs by 2033. Policy challenges include balancing housing delivery against employment needs, addressing £28 million temporary accommodation overspend, reducing 20-year social housing waiting times, and maintaining services during the worst financial situation in decades while achieving climate targets requiring comprehensive building retrofit and transport transformation.
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