A council property in Shepherd's Bush, west London, valued at £1.7 million, is receiving a £70,000 taxpayer-funded renovation while serving as the family home of Najat Chaffe, wife of jailed extremist preacher Abu Hamza. The work, including new windows, doors, solar panels and loft insulation, has sparked controversy because Hamza is serving a life sentence in a US maximum-security prison, raising questions about public spending on the family of a convicted terrorist.

Hammersmith and Fulham Council states it is legally obliged to maintain and upgrade its housing stock, with this five-bedroom property among approximately 1,000 homes in the improvement programme. Chaffe has a protected tenancy dating from 1995 and is entitled to remain despite a 2012 council attempt to relocate her to smaller accommodation when over 10,000 people were on the housing waiting list. The controversy is compounded by historical issues: Hamza was arrested in 2004 and later extradited to the United States in 2012 after a lengthy legal battle, and a 2007 court found he had secretly owned another property whilst receiving legal aid. Conservative opposition leader Jose Afonso has criticised the spending as wasteful public money.