This week’s meeting at the Town Hall to discuss the state of council housing in the borough

THE desperate demand for council homes was underlined at a Town Hall meeting on Tuesday night as people struggling to find affordable housing told a new parliamentary inquiry that the wait goes on and on.

Labour councillor Una O’Halloran, executive member for homes and communities, said the council was pumping as much money as they could into the problem – in her words, “10 years’ worth of money” had been spent in a single year – but it was never enough to get people into decent homes.

She also recognised the scourge of damp and mould which made some properties unfit for purpose.

The comments came at the first meeting of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Housing, which has commissioned an inquiry into the state of council housing in London.

Councillors, council tenants, and anyone impacted by the housing crisis were invited to speak, and their testimonies will play a part in the final findings.

In June, the Tribune analysed the borough’s housing waiting list and found that over 1,000 children are homeless and living in temporary accommodation.

“We get casework daily,” said Cllr O’Halloran.

Patsy Keane, a council tenant, told the meeting that she had spent eight years on the housing waiting list and because of this she had moved “six or seven times in the past 10 years before I got to where I live now”, adding: “It’s had a huge impact on my life and mental health. To this day, I still feel the effects of those moves.”

Molly Doyle, a Caledonian Estate resident, said she lived with her daughter and her son in their two-bed flat, and while they liked “living as an intergenerational household”, more space would be welcome.

“This is a real attack on ordinary people’s right to have a home. In a borough like Islington, private rent, if you’re forced into that, a two-bedroom flat would cost you more than £1,600, easily,” she said.

Eileen Short, a member of the parliamentary group and a member of campaigning group Defend Council Housing who chaired the meeting, said Britain had gone from a “nation of small shopkeepers” to “a nation of small landlords, or a nation of desperate tenants”.

Cllr O’Halloran said: “We are doing our best, but I will hold up my hands and say sorry to anyone that’s living today with damp and mould. Feel free to contact me.”

She added: “I’m hoping with a change of government, people take housing seriously and invest in it. We cannot get a change of government and not invest in housing, it’s just criminal. Otherwise, we’ll have a generation of real lost souls.”