Row over why London built just one affordable home a month
A row has broken out over why London has built just one affordable home a month, amid warnings the capital’s housing crisis is fast catapulting into an emergency situation.
Figures published today reveal just three affordable homes were started by City Hall during April, May and June 2023 – while stats for previous years extend upwards of 25,000.
Conservative City Hall housing spokesperson Lord Shaun Bailey said: “Khan has fallen years behind the latest housing targets and is failing to deliver the affordable, family homes that Londoners need.”
He added: “The mayor has received billions in government funding which he is failing to spend, and yet is demanding billions more. We cannot go on like this, with a mayor more interested in building his profile than building homes. London deserves so much better.”
But the mayor’s team insisted their lack of progress was down to the government not signing off the funding until July – three months after that quarter’s programme should have begun.
Deputy mayor for housing Tom Copley posted on X, formerly Twitter: “It’s hard to build affordable homes when the government delays signing off your affordable homes programme.
“Michael Gove didn’t sign it off until July so it was impossible for any new homes to be started in the first quarter of this financial year. This is all on ministers.”
‘Crisis to emergency’
But a government spokesperson hit back, saying: “We expect the Greater London Authority (GLA) to get on and build the homes that Londoners desperately need and deserve.”
It comes after Kojo Sarpong, Kensington and Chelsea council housing director, warned last month the borough’s housing supply issues were “moving from a crisis to an emergency”.
While Darren Rodwell, London Councils housing spokesperson, warned “the capital’s broken housing market is worsening the unsustainable and increasingly unmanageable pressures”.
According to OnLondon, he added: “A bad situation is now becoming disastrous. Urgent action is needed from the government to help households avoid homelessness.”
And just this week, per estate agents Foxtons, it was revealed Londoners continue to shell out an ever-increasing fortune on rental costs, with average rates hitting £597 a week in July.
Government delay?
A spokesperson for the mayor said “building genuinely affordable homes” had hit their highest level since records began under Khan’s mayoralty.
“The government delayed signing off on funding for the mayor’s 2021-26 affordable homes programme until July so it was impossible for any new homes to be started in the first quarter of this financial year,” they said.
“This unnecessary delay has slowed down progress and is disappointing given City Hall’s success in delivering a record-breaking 116,782 homes under the previous programme.
“Given spiralling housing costs there is an urgent need for additional investment in affordable housing in London and across the country – now more than ever.”
A Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities spokesperson said: “There are no targets for individual quarters for homes funded through the 2021-26 affordable homes programme, so low delivery in a particular quarter does not mean there is a risk of missing overall targets.
“The government has allocated £4bn to the GLA to deliver much needed affordable housing in the capital, and our support contributed to the delivery of more than 131,700 new affordable homes in the capital between 2010 and 2022.”