Camden’s Housing Delivery Taskforce sets out plan to boost borough’s housing delivery
Last night [Wednesday, 25 February], Camden’s Housing Delivery Taskforce presented a set of recommendations to help address the housing crisis to Cabinet.
The taskforce, which is the first of its kind in central London, was set up in Autumn 2025 to assess Camden’s housebuilding programmes and review what types of homes the council needs to prioritise to respond to growing housing challenges.
Co-chaired by Cabinet Member Councillor Nasrine Djemai and Dame Karen Buck, the taskforce included a mix of housing partners, from housing experts, developers, the private rented sector and community representatives to help boost housing delivery and support Camden’s response to the housing crisis.
A series of meetings were held where the taskforce agreed a set of recommendations. These were framed around ‘calls to action’ to accelerate housebuilding, deliver a broader mix of homes to meet the changing needs of communities and strengthen partnerships with organisations to respond to the increasing challenges, including a shortage of affordable homes, temporary accommodation pressures and rising homelessness.
People who work in Camden and contribute to local life are also being priced out of both social housing and the private rental market, and the taskforce looked at how Camden can provide homes for these households, including through a stronger intermediate housing offer.
The taskforce has now invited Camden Council to formally respond to these recommendations and set out a plan of action later this year.
Camden is at the sharp end of London’s housing crisis, with rising homelessness and growing temporary accommodation pressures continuing to affect residents and council services.
One in 50 Londoners are currently in temporary accommodation and in Camden there are over 8,000 people on our housing waitlist, with 70% of families in Council homes living in overcrowded conditions. We must take action to urgently build more high-quality, affordable housing and address the ongoing housing crisis in Camden and across London.
We have a strong track record of delivering affordable council homes. Through our Community Investment Programme, we’ve so far delivered over 1,700 new homes with thousands more to come, but we know we must do more to respond to the growing housing crisis. That’s why I called for the Housing Delivery Taskforce to be commissioned, to bring together the expertise, ideas and partnerships we need to deliver more of the right homes for our residents and support the thousands of residents in housing need. We also know we can’t do this alone. To accelerate delivery, we must explore new partnerships and enhance working across London and with national government.
The work of the taskforce is not just about building more homes but approaching housing delivery in a holistic way, so our young people can afford to stay in Camden, our families can settle and thrive and our older residents can live well. The taskforce is our toolkit, working alongside our ambitious Community Investment Programme, to accelerate housing delivery and ease local pressures. These recommendations are only the first part of the work of the taskforce, creating a foundation for future work to ensure housing growth is led by local need and we can secure a better future for our communities.
Recommendations presented by the taskforce include:
- Finding new funding routes to build new homes
- Buying back more homes to meet the demand for temporary accommodation
- Ensuring homes are not lost to short term lets
- Working closer with neighbouring boroughs to share learning and jointly tackle shared housing pressures
Read the full report and recommendations
Find out more about Camden's Housing Delivery Taskforce