London delivering twice as many council homes as the rest of UK, figures show

New Government statistics have revealed an average of 89 council homes a week have been started in the capital between his election in May 2016 and the end of the last financial year.

The figures show that last year, local authorities in London started building twice as many council homes than the rest of the country combined, with nearly 11,000 new council homes started in 2022/23.

Today the Mayor has urged the Government ‘not to completely give up on council housing’ as a vital way of delivering affordable homes, labelling the national figures ‘appalling’. Since 2016, more than 32,000 council homes have been started in London, with 23,000 directly funded by City Hall.

Housing completions are 20 per cent higher in London than the rest of the country and London has completed more homes of all types in recent years than at any time since the 1930, including delivering higher council homebuilding than at any time since the 1970s, more than the rest of the country combined.

This turnaround in council delivery has been driven by initiatives such as the Mayor’s landmark Building Council Homes for Londoners grant funding programme, his Homebuilding Capacity Fund, allowing boroughs to increase their ability to build after a generation of decline and the new Council Homes Acquisition Programme (CHAP).

In May 2023, the Mayor met the affordable homebuilding target of starting 116,000 homes, set under the Government’s 2016-23 Affordable Homes Programme, while Ministers missed their own target by nearly 6,500.

This included over 25,000 delivered by councils. Nationally, Ministers have failed to meet their targets and the Mayor has continued to call for unallocated funding to be given to London to spend in order to meet the aim of 10,000 council homes being purchased in the next decade and address growing demand for genuinely affordable homes.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan commented: “I am proud of the hard work and ambition shown by City Hall, boroughs and our housing partners to create a new golden era of council housing in the capital.

“We inherited a city where council homebuilding was nearly extinct and many believed it couldn’t be revived. We have proven them wrong and are now reversing the years of decline. Every new home we deliver, whether that is funded by City Hall or boroughs, is another London family given the secure, long term home they deserve.

“In contrast, the national figures for council homes are truly appalling. Today I’m urging the Government not to completely give up on council housing as a vital way of delivering affordable homes.”

By Matthew Neville – Senior Correspondent, Bdaily

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