| Population: The area is both a very stable area with a very settled population - and a very volatile area with a very rapid turnover of population, it’s both, you could think of it as half the buildings are occupied by a steady settled lot of people, many of whom have been there for generations – and the other half of the buildings are occupied by an ever changing series of students, professors, bankers, architects and other people who come through London and spend a few years here. That’s one thing. And a lot of these people are under quite
strong displacement pressure - that is it’s more and more
difficult for them to remain. If they are in the council
sector, council housing sector, which a lot of them are, they’re
under pressure to exercise their right to buy, to cash in the
value of their flat by selling it and moving away to somewhere
else. The stock of council housing is drying up, so people’s
children and grandchildren can’t form households and
continue to live locally however much they want to cos there
simply isn’t any space. And in the private sector whether it’s
owner occupiers or people renting, the cost of renting or
buying is so high, and rising so fast, that people are being
pressured out. |