Pink Floyd star's plan to aid homeless hits brick wall

The Guardian U.K. reports:

When Pink Floyd guitarist David Gilmour sold his London mansion for £3.6m, he was putting into practice his 'house for a house' philosophy: the belief that the wealthy should sell one of their palaces to provide hundreds of homes for those who are less well-off.

The rock star's move was inspired by a project in New York, where an Art Deco hotel had been turned into a block of 400 flats, half for low-paid key workers, the other half for homeless people. Those who were in work encouraged others to find a job, and supported them through their difficulties.

Five years on, and the idea of bringing the New York dream to London has crumbled into dust. Successive attempts to find a suitable site and then push it through the labyrynthine planning system have failed. The energy and excitement behind the original idea has been replaced with a bitter scepticism about the way planning rules and nimbyism ('not in my back yard') have ended up blocking the idea.

The homeless charity Crisis, which had spearheaded the Urban Village plan and was the beneficiary of the rock star's millions, has admitted defeat and is now looking at much smaller schemes.

Gilmour says: 'Obviously this setback is a disappointment, but I am determined to make a success of the Urban Village project here in London and to continue to work with Crisis to bring real change to the lives of homeless people.'

The charity's chief executive, Leslie Morphy, says the need is greater than ever. 'We have 40,000 people in London living in squats, B&Bs or on the streets. I think it does say something about us as a society if we cannot get a project as exciting as this off the ground. It is dispiriting and we need to learn a lot from this.'

For Gilmour the sadness is that New York is now opening its fourth such scheme. Eight other properties are currently being developed, and the scheme has received dozens of accolades.