Council leader Georgia Gould speaking on Monday

PRIVATE homes being built in a council redevelopment project are being taken off the market under a plan to give them to Afghan refugees who have spent months in hotels. Forty-one flats are being sized up on the Highgate Newtown Community Centre (HNCC) site.

The move comes weeks after Camden declared it would be a “borough of sanctuary” with all-party support and also sending a welcome message to Ukrainians who have fled Vladimir Putin’s invasion.

The scheme is part of the council’s Community Investment Programme (CIP), which has delivered new homes and upgraded estates, as well as providing community facilities.

Funding often comes from allowing sections of the redevelopment schemes to be handed over to developers or for homes to be sold for high value prices on the private market. Market conditions and building costs have made it harder in recent years, however, to guarantee maximum profits from the sale of private housing.

Council leader Councillor Georgia Gould said on Monday that the CIP had always been designed to be “flexible” and now funding was available to use the homes in Highgate to help refugees who fled Afghanistan when the Taliban took control of the country in 2021.

Many have been living in “bridging” hotels with their lives in limbo and shrouded in uncertainty. The home office has provided cash to the Greater London Authority, which is then distributing the money across councils in the capital.

Thousands of Afghans fled to the UK and arrived in Camden. Some have since moved on to other parts of the UK, but ­others settled in the borough and have children who are enrolled in schools here.

Cllr Gould said: “Over the last 18 months, Afghan refugees who risked their lives working with Britain as translators, doctors, special forces, civil servants, journalists, drivers and many other roles have been living with their families in hotels in Camden.” She added: “This funding would allow the council to bring homes that would have been lost to private sale into the council stock to provide safe haven housing now and additional council homes for future generations.”

Cllr Gould said that the Town Hall remained committed to buying homes for families from Camden facing homelessness and residents suffering from overcrowding – a major issue on many council estates.

Andrew Sanalitro, director of the HNCC, said: “Our community centre and partners will be delighted to welcome the new residents into the heart of our community and to involve them in our programme of activity in any ways that can support them to settle and thrive. “This will be an exciting and positive development for our neighbourhood.”