Affordable housing is monitored to make sure it is built and managed as we agreed with developers and housing associations.
In 2016, a Local Government Ombudsman decision required Southwark to report on whether the different types of affordable homes listed in the legal agreement are still being provided.
The Ombudsman said: “The council failed to have in place a procedure for supervising compliance with Section 106 Agreements, but it recognised that failing and has remedied it by agreeing to an annual audit.”
In 2022, the Local Government Ombudsman investigated the council’s response to the 2016 decision. Its purpose was to see if the council had set up an annual audit of monitoring affordable homes agreed in Section 106 legal agreements with planning applications, and that the secured affordable homes continued to be let at target rent. The Ombudsman found in the council’s favour.