Mayor hails record-breaking housing delivery of affordable homes for Londoners

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has delivered record-breaking levels of affordable housing in a drive to safeguard the “soul of our city”.

In a speech this morning, he will confirm that he has surpassed the target of starting 116,000 genuinely affordable homes for Londoners between 2015/16 and 2022/3, as well as setting out why he is so passionate about building the homes Londoners need. He will label London’s housing crisis as ‘a grave social injustice’.

When Sadiq became Mayor in May 2016, affordable housing starts in London were far below what the city required. The previous Mayor left a legacy of just three homes for social rent in the pipeline when Sadiq took office.

Now, thanks to the Mayor’s Affordable Homes Programme, both councils and housing associations have been empowered to build the homes Londoners need. The 116,000 homes delivered over the last seven years is the equivalent number of homes as a city the size of Plymouth.

This has led to a new era of homebuilding, with the number of new affordable housing starts increasing in every year but one (the year the pandemic hit) under Sadiq. Despite the most challenging economic headwinds in decades, a record-breaking 25,658 affordable homes were started in London last year, up from 18,840 in 2021/22.

Sadiq’s decision to focus more resources on council homebuilding has paid off, with a huge increase in the number of council homes started during this Affordable Homes Programme. Earlier this month, Sadiq exceeded his target of starting 20,000 new council homes by 2024, with more than 23,000 underway by the end of March 2023.

City Hall-funded affordable homes have been started in every borough over the last year. Greenwich and Ealing led the way in 2022-23, with each borough seeing more than 2,000 affordable homes started by either the council or housing associations. The Affordable Homes Programme has also driven economic growth by creating almost 140,000 new jobs since the programme began.

The Mayor will mark this achievement in a speech to members of the London housing sector at a construction site in the Royal Docks this morning. Royal Eden Docks is being developed by Mount Anvil alongside Newham Council and Riverside Housing Association. The current phase will deliver 262 affordable homes.

The Mayor will highlight the choices he’s made in responding to London’s housing crisis, saying: “This is where politics comes down to choices. We’re choosing to build the genuinely affordable homes Londoners need, not prioritising luxury penthouses for overseas investors.

“We’re choosing to take the side of renters by demanding the Government introduce a rent freeze. We’re choosing to reject the notion that housing is an asset, rather than a basic necessity. And we’re choosing to crackdown on dodgy landlords, stand up for working Londoners and get tough with developers.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily

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