Betting the house on the Athletes' Village
If you want to see how the economic downturn is affecting the , look no further than the in east London.
The £1 billion project for 2,800 apartments was supposed to be completely privately-funded. Now the because it has been impossible to raise the cash from the private sector.
Does this matter?
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Well, it means that taxpayers will end up holding the baby if the apartments can't be sold for a decent price after the Games. The Government is confident it will get the cash back but there are no guarantees in the . Who knows what will happen to the housing market in the next three years?
But what worries some people in east London is that the promises about delivering affordable housing may not be met in the rush to get back the cash.
A £100 million Government grant from the means that the developers building half of the homes have a commitment to social housing.
But I was talking to a group which represents London citizens the other day and they were concerned about whether the percentages of social housing will be high enough.
Vancouver, the organisers of next year's , has been forced to bail out the athletes' village there because of the credit crunch. It has annoyed many locals because they don't see how the community will benefit from what are largerly expensive flats.
London has to watch this problem closely too.
Stratford is being regenerated for the Games and it will be a better place for east Londoners to live in. But the challenge will be to make sure that the locals aren't priced out of the housing market and residents feel they have a place in the future of the new world.
I've reported before on people living in the Carpenters housing estate next to the Olympic Park who feel their community is being "wound-down" by the Olympics and worry about the future of their homes. They are worried the tower blocks where they live will be knocked down after the Games and the land will be sold to private developers.
In this way, what has happened with the village could have implications beyond taxpayers carrying the financial risk. Olympic developers will be under pressure to deliver on the affordable housing promises.
I'm ´óÏó´«Ã½ London's Olympics Correspondent, which means I report on every aspect of the preparations for 2012. I'm going to be telling you what people are saying about London's preparations - both in the Olympic corridors of power and on the streets of the capital - and I want to hear your views.
Comment number 1.
At 1st Jun 2009, jonasheros wrote:Hey Adrian, thankfully you have found something negative about the games to put under the spotlight! I bet after the IOC gave London another thumbs up you were getting worried there would be no "bad news" for you to report on...
Also glad to see you interviewed a fair representation of people both for and against the games as well!
Why not ask a few of the local estate agents about property prices around the Olympic Park before "you" decide that they will be difficult to sell at a price to recoup the money.
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Comment number 2.
At 2nd Jun 2009, Graham Newsom wrote:Adrian - good to see you're reverting to type. I think the ODA are doing a pretty good job delivering the infrastructure for the Games in difficult economic times and within a tight budget. They can't win, can they? Without the forthcoming private sector support what were they supposed to do - just ring their hands and say it's all too difficult? No. They took the sensible decision and I'm sure they'll keep the promise to deliver affordable housing to the local community. I'm sure you'd be the first to criticise if they didn't also seek to recoup some of the costs to ensure that the taxpayer and other Lottery Good Causes get some return for their outlay.
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Comment number 3.
At 9th Jun 2009, kwikscull wrote:Mr. Warner, see my comments on the "Be Green just Don't Talk About It" article you wrote. I think jonasheros and akabarrington agree with my sentiments.
I have read this one previous blogs you have done as well. Are we all wrong?
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Comment number 4.
At 23rd Jun 2009, Graham Newsom wrote:Adrian,
It appears the ODA are now well on the way to delivering what you pessimistically appeared to regard as impossible. The sale of almost half the 2800 units to Triathlon Homes strikes me as a major coup both in helping to reduce the burden on the UK taxpayer and in delivering affordable homes in East London. Hope this helps to lighten your spirits.
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