The City of London Corporation's approval follows repeated concerns raised about the state of its housing stock
14:30, 15 Dec 2025
City of London councillors have approved more than £151 million to support the refurbishment of the Corporation's housing estates.
The funding, part of an overall 10-year, £211m package, was agreed following repeated concerns about the state of the City's relatively small number of homes. Some have however queried the extent to which the agreed funding will resolve the problems facing the City's estates.
Deputy Chris Hayward, Policy Chair at the Corporation, said following the meeting that "providing good-quality, safe homes for our residents is a fundamental responsibility, and today's decision demonstrates our absolute commitment to that duty".
The Corporation has around 3,000 homes managed via its Housing Revenue Account (HRA), of which 1,922 are rented and the remaining owned by leaseholders. While far smaller than the average stock held by other London local authorities it includes some of the capital's most well-known estates, such as the Barbican and Golden Lane.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) has written extensively on the issues faced by both tenants and leaseholders living in Corporation homes. These range from problems of lift outages and mice at York Way in Islington to the general dilapidation of the Golden Lane Estate.
The LDRS also recently revealed the percentage of Corporation homes classed as 'non-decent' has almost doubled in the last 12 months, with fears the situation could get much worse.
In the paper which went before members at the Court of Common Council on Friday (December 12) officers wrote the 'unaffordability' of major repairs required to be delivered by the HRA can be put down to several factors.
They wrote: "These include a lack of planned maintenance over the past 60 years, despite the existence of a clear albeit unfunded plan. Affordability issues have also arisen because it would have been significantly less expensive to carry out these repairs five to ten years ago. Additionally, previous plans did not account for all necessary works due to a lack of funding."
Mention is also made of a motion members agreed in July which resolved to explore "all options" to fund the renovation of the Corporation's housing estates. The final wording was the amended version of a motion proposed by Alderwoman Martha Grekos, which had called specifically for the Corporation to use its City's Estate, a multi-billion-pound endowment fund, to fund the repairs.
Officers wrote in the report that failure to carry out the required works would result in the Regulator for Social Housing (RSH) issuing a C4 judgement, the worst available, for the City.
The overall spend required is estimated at £211m, plus an 'optimism bias' of £78.99m which is to cover unknown future costs.
"The HRA can fund £138.23m via leaseholders recharges, depreciation, and borrowing, while an extra £151.77m from the City Corporation is needed outside the HRA," the report states.
The paper before members was to approve that additional funding is to be taken from the City Fund, the Corporation's pot used to support its local authority functions.
Introducing the item at Friday's meeting Deputy Hayward said the works would "significantly enhance the quality, safety and sustainability of the City Corporation's homes across the City, Hackney, Islington, Lambeth, Lewisham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets, enhancing our commitment to London as a whole".
However he took issue with an email sent by Alderwoman Grekos to members prior to the meeting in which she claimed the plan would not solve the issue at hand, and that the solution remains to draw on the City's Estate.
He said: "I might, I think, be forgiven for wondering whether the Alderwoman's commitment is to housing or to a determination to weaken the Corporation's finances and our ability to be the Government's partner of choice in pursuit of economic growth."
Alderwoman Grekos responded by saying she is the first to declare her passion about the City and belief in the Corporation, despite not always holding the same views as Deputy Hayward.
"So I'm certainly not here to weaken the Corporation and raid the City's Estate," she added.
She continued to reiterate her position that the report will not resolve the issues on the housing estates, partly due to only around £41m of the funding described as 'certain'.
Alderwoman Grekos also raised concerns about the amount leaseholders will be expected to pay, which, based on previous reports, she claimed would force some to sell up.
"Who, though, would want to buy a dilapidated flat that carries a big liability imposed by a freeholder offloading the cost of its own failure to maintain its estates?" she asked. "It is the intention of this report is to draw a line under this embarrassing issue. It will not succeed."
Several members rose to back the proposal, including Deputy Andrien Meyers and Common Councillor Sarah Gillinson. Cllr Gillinson described the paper as a "significant moment", and said that, if approved, the Corporation should hold itself to account when it comes to sourcing the full funding.
"For the first time we have in front of us a real plan for funding the core investment that is required…[to get] all of our homes up to the decent and safe standard that all of our residents should expect."
A couple of members, however, spoke in-part to comment on the response to Alderwoman Grekos' email.
Deputy Marianne Fredericks said she was disappointed by Deputy Hayward's opening comments which, she claimed, "shoots the messenger".
Deputy Bethany Coombs, who alongside Alderwoman Grekos is a representative of the Castle Baynard ward, said while there had been "plenty of high-falutin talk about being bold and moving forward and modernising the Corporation, when a dissenting view is proposed "there is a sharp intake of breath".
She added that the experience of the residents living on the Corporation's estates is often lost during debates, and that Alderwoman Grekos, who Deputy Coombs said raised "some excellent points", deserved to be shown more respect.
Deputy Hayward in his summing up told members he was "ashamed" by the condition of the Golden Lane and Middlesex Street estates during recent visits, and that the only difference between he and Alderwoman Grekos is the funding mechanism for the works.
On Alderwoman Grekos' point that the 'optimism bias' had yet to be accounted for, he said there is the lifetime of the programme, a decade, to secure that particular funding.
"So what are we going to do? Hold up today because we haven't absolutely identified every single last pound? We have got 97/98 per cent of the funding agreed if you vote in favour today. Surely, surely we owe that to our residents not to delay any longer."
When put to a vote members approved the proposal.
Get the biggest stories from around London straight to your inbox. Sign up to MyLondon's The 12 HERE for the 12 biggest stories each day.