THE LACK of housing in Enfield that people can afford means that family-sized homes along the A406 should become social housing, the council says.

Enfield has 3,179 families in temporary housing, the fourth highest number in the country. The council says the shortage of affordable housing in the borough is chronic.

While some houses will be demolished to make way for the A406 widening, the council wants the rest of the homes, which are owned by Transport for London, (TfL) to be transferred to the council or to a housing association.

Of the 349 houses along the A406, 198 are currently leased by TfL to the council.

Of these, 116 are rented to tenants, 22 are empty and 60 are sublet to housing associations.

According to TfL, 17 commercial and residential properties are set for demolition.

Under Government legislation the current occupants of the homes are non-secure tenants, which means they have no legal rights to remain once notice has been served upon them.

However the council has said its tenants are secure as many have lived there for 30 years.

It has promised to try to re-house people if they are evicted due to their home being demolished or sold to a landlord that does not wish to keep them on.

A council spokeswoman said that due to the housing shortage any help it could offer might be very limited.

At a recent Enfield Council meeting, Environment cabinet member Terry Neville said: “We find ourselves fourth in the country for the number of people in temporary accommodation.

“This is an extremely serious position. What we are dealing with is problems arising from excessive immigration.

“I would like to be reassured that staff apply most rigorous tests to people coming in because I am not satisfied (that they are).”

The council said more family-sized housing was needed and praised Boris Johnson’s claim that the “decayed Edwardian villas” on the A406 must come up to standard.

Cllr Achilles Georgiou added: “We are not seeing homes in Enfield for Enfield families. Our concern is the number of homes being subdivided.”