Redbridge Council has built no homes for social rent in the last four years.

Cllr Farah Hussain, cabinet member for housing and homelessness, admitted that the authority has only built homes at “affordable rent” and for shared ownership.

The council defines “affordable rent” as anything up to 80 per cent of full market value rent levels.

Neighbours have raised concerns about how truly affordable these rates are and the difficulty families can face from high rents, particularly households in receipt of universal credit.

Philip Barker, who lives in Ilford town centre, raised the issue at last week’s cabinet meeting.

He used the example of housing company Metropolitan’s Wanstead Park shared ownership scheme, where flats are on offer with total monthly costs of more than £1,200.

The flats can only be owned through the shared ownership scheme if applicants earn more than £55,000 per year.

He said: “So called affordable housing is not always affordable . When a development like the Metropolitan shared ownership development in Ilford requires a minimum income of £55,000 to access, the word affordable loses all meaning.

“While council homes at legal affordable rents should be more realistic, it is still concerning Redbridge have sought to quietly raise rents for new tenants.

“I’m baffled, even new homes in council ownership in one of the poorest parts of Ilford have had rent rates set so high at 80 per cent of market levels that housing benefit will not be able to cover them.

“If it has the interests of those who it is supposed to protect at heart, will the council return to traditional lower social rents in future?”

The cabinet member placed the blame for the borough’s lack of social rent homes squarely on the government’s shoulders.

She said: “The government has given no grant funding for homes of social rent after the 2010 coalition cut that funding completely.”

According to charity Trust for London, Redbridge is one of the worst boroughs for evictions from the private rented sector in London and is 30th out of 32 for the net number of affordable houses completed in the three years up to 2016.

Currently, the borough has 26 evictions per 1,000 renting households and out of all of the houses the council built in the three years up to 2016, only seven per cent were affordable.

As of March 2018, 2,270 Redbridge families had to rely on temporary accommodation and at least 109 people died sleeping rough on the borough’s streets.

A council spokesperson said: “The national government cancelled the social rent grants programme in 2010. That means that the homes the council have built in Redbridge since 2014 have all been either at affordable rent (up to 80 per cent of market rent) or housing benefit rate. This is to ensure that anyone reliant on housing benefit can afford to live in Redbridge council properties.”