Islington is one of the most densely populated and expensive places to live in London. The high population density reflects the shortage of accommodation and land in the borough, low household size, and the popularity of the area, with a significantly high proportion of flats (rather than houses) in the borough. At the same time, the borough contains some of the most deprived wards in the UK. The result is a shortage of good quality, genuinely affordable housing and a significant unmet housing need. 40% of council owned homes are smaller homes with only one bedroom creating a need for more homes with two bedrooms and larger family-sized homes.

Over the past four years, government cuts to welfare, the lack of growth in wages, greater unemployment, and the rising cost of living have made life harder for people in Islington. The council has faced huge cuts in public spending – but through our housing strategy we can make a real difference to people’s lives. People of Islington can build more genuinely affordable homes, drive up standards in the private-rented sector, and make homes cheaper to run. We can also create jobs through our building programme, deliver high quality services through a larger in-house workforce, and use our role as a landlord to help people into work.