Join Centre for London, in partnership with the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC), at this year’s Conservative Party Conference.  

London’s housing crisis is only getting worse. As rents skyrocket, hundreds of thousands of Londoners are being forced into homelessness and placed into temporary accommodation. As a result, today, on average one child in every London classroom is homeless and living in temporary accommodation. This crisis is costing London’s councils £4m a day. Local Government finances are challenged like never before, steering councils towards a nightmare scenario of smaller budgets and higher demands.  London needs to take innovative and immediate action to tackle capital’s housing crisis effectively.   

Earlier this year, RBKC’s Leadership Team agreed a pioneering scheme to use up to £100 million from its pension fund to purchase up to 250 homes for homeless families. The first of its kind initiative in Britain, this initiative will help alleviate the temporary accommodation crisis and the council’s reliance on expensive and sometimes unsuitable housing options. Is this a way forward and long-term solution that will help to overcome London’s housing challenges? 

Our panel will explore: 

• How  using local authority pension funds can boost the TA supply and help to respond to rising homelessness in London? 
• What can councils learn from this approach?
• What else is needed to tackle the TA crisis? 
• Are there additional innovative fiscal levels which could allow councils to purchase new social homes?  
• How can schemes such as these be scaled up to deliver homes Londoners need? 

Our panel will bring together experts from Centre for London, RBKC and Trowers & Hamlins to discuss how this innovative approach can enable the Council to fulfil its legal obligations to homeless households acquiring and providing good quality homes and what is the long-term vision tackling the housing crisis in London. 

Speakers: 

• Chair: Antonia Jennings, Chief Executive, Centre for London 
• Cllr Elizabeth Campbell, Council Leader, RBKC 
• Ian McDermott, Chief Executive, Peabody
• Richard St John Williams, Partner, Trowers & Hamlins
• Mayor Jason Perry, Executive Mayor of Croydon Council

If you would like more information about the event, please contact our Senior Events Officer, Aiste Kontrimaite.