Sadiq Khan ‘could do better’ with affordable housing

Sadiq Khan’s affordable housing record was slapped with a 'could do better' verdict
EPA

London Assembly members today delivered a “could do better” verdict on Sadiq Khan’s affordable housing record during his first three years as Mayor.

A housing committee report found the total of completed affordable homes is well below levels in the preceding decade.

Labour’s Tom Copley, the committee’s chair, said: “There is room for the Mayor to go further.”

The number of families on waiting lists has barely changed since 2016. Mr Khan has had £4.82 billion in government grants to fund 116,000 subsidised homes by 2022, of which 41,704 have been started.

Last year work began on 14,544 affordable homes, just entering the 14,000 to 19,000 target range. London needs about 43,000 new affordable homes a year.

The smallest number since 2016 have been in Richmond upon Thames (153), Kingston upon Thames (262), Sutton (281) and Merton (364).

The most were in Tower Hamlets (3,671), Ealing (3,196) and Newham (2,698). Mr Copley said it was “promising” to see a sharp increase in the number of homes for social rent — the cheapest housing — being started since 2016, but blamed the Government for imposing conditions on its grants. Only a quarter of the affordable homes started last year were for social rent.

Westminster council’s Tory leader Nickie Aiken told the London Real Estate Forum: “We need diverse communities, not just enclaves for the super-rich and ghettos for the poor.” She proposed more than 22,000 new homes by 2040, with at least 35 per cent being affordable.

James Murray, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development, said: “Our focus on building council and social rented homes for Londoners is the right way to tackle the capital’s housing crisis – last year we started a record number of affordable homes, and helped councils get more homes underway than in any year since 1985. But we and councils are still held back by the national Government’s rules, and we currently receive only a fraction of the affordable housing investment needed in London. The Mayor has been clear that to go further and help all Londoners find a home they can afford, he urgently needs new powers and vastly increased funding from Government.”

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