Wandsworth Cabinet Member addresses the housing crisis in BBC documentary

Wandsworth’s Cabinet Member for Housing, Aydin Dikerdem, has featured in a BBC documentary: 'Britain’s Housing Crisis: What Went Wrong?'

He powerfully explains why affordable homes are in such scarce supply in this must watch two-part film.

He says: “A private developer business model is to try and maximise their profit. When you ask them to deliver affordable housing alongside on the site, they get planning permission for a certain number for affordable homes.”

Adding: “The developers end up with all the power, it’s weighted towards them and weighted towards their bottom line. And that’s what we saw historically during this period of time […] affordable housing numbers reduced.”

This film perfectly illustrates why Wandsworth Council has taken recent steps to address the housing divide in the Borough - because nothing is more important to building a good life than a safe, secure and affordable place to call home.  

The council is delivering 1,000 council homes through our pioneering Homes for Wandsworth programme to reduce waiting lists and give people the opportunity to stay in the communities they have grown up in.

We are consulting on a review of our Local Plan which, if agreed, will look to developers to deliver much more affordable housing on all future developments. 

Over a third of our Borough are now private renters and through our draft Housing and Homelessness Strategy, the council is looking to introduce additional landlord licencing to help drive up standards in the private rented sector and to crack down on rogue landlords.

We have increased our focus on fire safety on all council properties, as well as issues of damp and mould – setting up a dedicated phone line for council tenants.

The documentary explores how Government policy since the 90s inflated house prices and caused a decline in homeownership across the country.

It argues that a failure to deliver enough homes while demand increased has seen house prices continue to grow, pricing many young people out of the housing market and meant that many now rely on the private rental market.

The documentary features a range of politicians and experts from across the political spectrum to explain the decisions taken and their impact.