Tower Hamlets gets almost £19.5 million from government’s New Homes Bonus scheme

Tower Hamlets Council has once again topped the national league table and secured a further £19,478,009 from the New Homes Bonus scheme for building new homes in the borough.
The government scheme will give the council the funding for the year 2014/15 and bring the total the council has received to almost £50 million since the scheme was first introduced in 2011.
Developed as an incentive to encourage councils to build more homes, the scheme matches the council tax raised on each new house for a period of six years, with extra funding for new affordable homes.
Tower Hamlets Council has strongly invested in creating additional new homes, including affordable homes where possible, to support the borough’s residents. The recently completed work on the Ocean Estate saw more than 800 new and replacement homes built, while the development in Blackwall Reach is set to provide around 1,600 new homes.
Mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, said: “Housing is one of my key priorities. We have built the most affordable social homes in the country for the past two years and this latest recognition by government is a testament to this fact.
“Not only are we the top borough for providing new homes, we now also have access to this additional funding which we can use to further invest in the borough .”
Councillor Rabina Khan, cabinet member for Housing added: “Tower Hamlets is the fastest growing borough in London and we are proud to be creating the homes London needs – not just in the private sector but also ensuring we deliver the most affordable homes too. This is fantastic news and confirms that the Mayor is delivering for this borough.”