Fiona Fletcher-Smith, chief executive of one of the country’s largest housing associations, has called for swifter and more radical government action to tackle the housing emergency in London. Speaking in an interview published this month, Fletcher-Smith — who lives in Croydon and chairs the Whitgift Foundation’s Court of Governors — said ministers should use “every lever available” to boost the supply of homes for social rent.
Policy: push further, faster
Fletcher-Smith, who has almost three decades of experience in housing including senior roles at the Greater London Authority, was clear that recent changes to planning policy are insufficient to meet the scale of need. She criticised moves by national and regional leaders to reduce the share of so-called affordable housing required from developers and argued the crisis in the capital demands a different approach.
“I know it’s controversial, but the crisis in London is so extreme, whatever lever you’ve got, you’ve got to pull it.”
The L&Q boss set out stark human costs that, she said, should concentrate minds in Whitehall and City Hall. She pointed to public-health and child welfare consequences where families are forced into overcrowded or temporary accommodation.
Recent organisational shift at L&Q
Last month L&Q completed a substantial disposal intended to prioritise and fund its social housing work. The organisation sold its private housing business in a deal valued at £1 billion, involving more than 3,000 rental homes. The sale, Fletcher-Smith said, is intended to concentrate resources on delivering homes for social rent across Greater London and Greater Manchester.
- £1 billion — value of L&Q’s recent disposal of its private housing arm
- 3,000+ — number of rental homes included in that disposal
- Focus — renewed emphasis on social housing provision in London and Greater Manchester
Fletcher-Smith argued that building the appropriate tenure mix — homes that are genuinely affordable on social-rent terms — could also have broader economic benefits for London, potentially unlocking significant new revenue if structured effectively.
Human impact and statistics
In the interview she highlighted distressing consequences for children living in temporary accommodation. She drew attention to the prevalence of families in unstable housing and referenced research that associates inadequate accommodation with harm to children’s development and, in some instances, death. Fletcher-Smith said overcrowding can be so severe in some cases that young children lack space to learn to crawl and develop.
| Issue | Figure |
|---|---|
| Children in temporary accommodation (cited rate) | 1-in-21 |
| Children who died over five years linked to temporary accommodation (cited) | 104 |
These figures, she suggested, should reframe debates about planning thresholds and the mix of homes secured through developer contributions. For local authorities and housing providers, Fletcher-Smith said, the overriding priority must be increasing the stock of homes that are genuinely affordable to those on the lowest incomes.
Implications for Croydon and local authorities
For Croydon, where demand for genuinely affordable housing is acute and the number of families in temporary or insecure accommodation remains a pressing civic concern, Fletcher-Smith’s comments will be closely watched. Councils negotiate Section 106 agreements and other planning obligations with developers; the balance struck between private sale, shared ownership and social rent shapes housing outcomes for years.
Her call for ministers to “pull every lever” implies support for stronger national direction, targeted investment and possibly new powers or incentives to shift the development pipeline towards lower-rent social housing. Such moves would have direct resource and delivery implications for local authorities and housing associations operating in Croydon.
As the new prime minister and housing secretary form their agenda, Fletcher-Smith’s interview is a reminder from a senior sector figure — and a local resident — that strategic choices taken now will determine whether London can reduce homelessness and overcrowding or whether current trends continue to harm vulnerable children and families.
