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London鈥檚 鈥榓ffordable鈥 homes dream turns sour
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Five years ago, Sharon O鈥機allaghan-Evans watched with pride as her son took the stage in the opening ceremony of London鈥檚 Olympics, waving a flag to welcome the athletes to the East End neighborhood where four generations of her family had lived.
A month later she followed suit, dancing with a group of women who, like her, suffer from impaired vision, in the opening show of the Paralympic Games.
Little did mother and son know then, they would soon be living in apartments built for the games鈥 sporting stars 鈥 or that an Olympic legacy of massive inflation in local rents would later force them out of their home city altogether.
The medical researcher, working on treatments for diabetes and heart disease, was among a set of locals including nurses and teachers, chosen after the games for reduced-cost housing schemes to help 鈥渒ey workers鈥 afford London鈥檚 lofty rents.
O鈥機allaghan-Evans said the two-bed apartment in the athletes鈥 village, amid the landscaped hills of the Olympic Park, was a dream 颅鈥 but one that would be short-lived, as the mushrooming costs of the so-called affordable homes became apparent.
After a year, she was forced to give up her flat after her rents were hiked by nearly a quarter 鈥 from 15,000 pounds (US$19,500) a year to more than 18,500 pounds.
鈥淚t wasn鈥檛 what they told us it would be 鈥 it was a lie,鈥 said O鈥機allaghan-Evans, 53, who now lives more than 160 kilometers from London, near the town of Yeovil in rural Somerset.
She said the stress of hiked rents contributed to the worsening of her heart condition for which she was repeatedly hospitalized in early 2015 as she attempted to fight eviction, and which has now left her legally blind.
O鈥機allaghan-Evans is one of many who joined post-Olympics 鈥渁ffordable鈥 housing schemes who have faced rising rents and insecure housing contracts, with little support from the publicly funded developers who were their landlords, she said.
Speaking in a cafe across the road from her old home in the athletes鈥 village, now renamed East Village, O鈥機allaghan-Evans said.
鈥淚 have been absolutely impoverished by a process that was supposed to help me.鈥
London鈥檚 Olympic organisers justified the games鈥 9 billion pound price tag with promises to deliver not only a sporting extravaganza but an 鈥淥lympic legacy鈥 of prosperity for the poor East London boroughs where the games were held.
But five years on from the opening ceremony, promises to deliver 鈥渉omes for all鈥 and narrow the gulf in living standards between the host area and the rest of London have not been met, said residents, academics and some local leaders.
The six host boroughs have seen a spike in homelessness and numbers in emergency temporary accommodation, with both measures up more than 60 percent since the year before the games, according to the UK Department for Communities.
While local leaders have blamed government policies to limit housing benefit payments, the host boroughs have also fallen further behind the rest of London in key measures, according to their own research.
Their most recent report for 2015-16 showed widening gaps in average wages and overcrowding, as families and renters attempt to fit more people into scarce homes.
Stephen Timms, opposition member of parliament for East Ham said genuinely affordable housebuilding had fallen off-track, with 鈥渘othing like enough鈥 built so far.
鈥淲e require very significant investment in affordable housing to manage the increase in population without these problems 鈥 homelessness, the worst of them, but also inadequate homes that are much too small, cramped, overcrowded,鈥 he said.
Stratford, the host neighborhood, has transformed from a post-industrial landscape to hive of sports venues, mega-malls, and luxury tower blocks, but locals are left asking if they will be able to afford to remain and enjoy the new opportunities.
When the athletes鈥 village was sold off in 2011 around half, or nearly 1,500 apartments, was sold to QDD, a joint venture between Qatari Diar, a property arm of Qatar鈥檚 sovereign wealth fund, and British property developer Delancey, to be sold or rented on the private market.
The remaining apartments were sold to Triathlon Homes, a joint venture between a developer and two non-profit housing providers, to become the 鈥渁ffordable鈥 housing quota, funded by nearly 50 million pounds from the government鈥檚 Homes and Communities Agency.
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