In 2021 the Mayor was allocated £4 billion in central Government funding for the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) 2021-26, and committed to 35,000 affordable housing starts by 2026. As of September 2023, there have been no starts yet under the Programme.
A National Audit Office (NAO) report from September 2022 emphasised that the economic environment had changed since the setting of original targets, meaning that the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities’ overall forecast for starts under the AHP by Homes England and the Greater London Authority (GLA) was ‘uncertain’.[1]
The GLA has since confirmed that the new target for starts in the AHP 2021-26 is between 23,900 to 27,100 starts, and the Committee will be investigating why two years into the programme, there have been no starts to date.
The AHP provides grant funding from central Government to housing providers in England to subsidise the cost of delivering affordable homes. In London, this funding is administered by the GLA.
While central Government provides the funding and sets overall housing targets and deadlines in negotiation with the Mayor, the GLA and Mayor manages how this grant funding is allocated to housing providers - called ‘investment partners’ - through bidding processes.
The London Assembly Housing Committee will meet tomorrow to examine the Mayor’s plan for delivery under the AHP 2021-26, investigating when building will start on the programme, and how the GLA and investment partners are navigating the financial situation that is currently affecting house building nationally.
The guests are:
- Tom Copley, Deputy Mayor for Housing and Residential Development
- Clare Miller, Chief Executive, Clarion Housing Group
- Fiona Fletcher-Smith, Chair of G15 and Chief Executive of L&Q
- Tim Steer, Executive Director of Housing and Land, GLA
- Heather Juman, Interim Assistant Director, Housing and Land, GLA
- Tajmina Jetha, Head of Programme Management, GLA
- Hakeem Osinaike, Director of Housing, London Borough of Brent
The meeting will take place on Thursday 19 October 2023 from 10am, in The Chamber at City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, E16 1ZE.
Media and members of the public are invited to attend.
The meeting can also be viewed LIVE or later via webcast or YouTube.
Follow us @LondonAssembly.
Notes to editors
- NAO, The Affordable Homes Programme since 2015, 8 September 2022
- Read the agenda papers.
- Shaun Bailey AM, Chairman of the Housing Committee, is available for interview.
- Find out more about the work of the Housing Committee.
- As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.