The Houses of Wandsworth

Just to shed a little light on what m'colleague was saying yesterday, here is a little chart from Wandsworth council.
Estimated households at 31/03/11:

Owns outright:	23,288
Owns with a mortgage or loan:	42,318
Shared ownership:	2,834,
Rented – Council:	17,295
Rented - HA/RSL:	9,820
Rented – Private:	27,407
Rented from other:	3,956
All Households:	126,917

As can be clearly seen, the vast majority of people in Wandsworth, don't own their own homes (and the way that press and local property sheets went on, you'd think everyone was an owner occupier). We can even include the mortgagees in the non-owners, many of whom are basically renting from the bank with a ruddy enormous deposit. Even if we include mortgagees and part-owners in the owners list, that is still only 54% of households. yet it is seen as aberrant to be a non-owner. It is considered shameful (or a privilege) to be one of the 17,000 council tenants (14% of the total).

Now, we're not proposing that the people who own their own homes be kicked out, what we want is the security of tenure that home owners enjoy to be extended to everyone. The vast majority of propertyless occupiers should be able to enjoy a home of their own. That is, there is a difference between a home and property, turning property into homes is where we're at.

Update

OK, a few more facts from the same source (I scrolled down a way, ok).

Wandsworth:	£385k / £50k	House Price Earning Ratio: 7.7
London:	£342k / £37k	House Price Earning Ratio: 9.2

So, average salaries are higher in Wandsworth, and thus houses are slightly more "affordable". Not affordable, though, for the 509 "unintentionally homeless" families in 2010/11.