The Mayor’s affordable homes record: the hard numbers to date

The London Assembly Housing Committee publishes today the annual ‘Affordable Housing Monitor’, which tracks how the Mayor of London is delivering on his affordable homes commitment in London.



According to the Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA) London needs to build over 1.6 million homes between 2016 and 2041, which is 65,878 new homes on a net basis per year across all housing tenures. Two thirds of these (42,841) need to be in social or affordable tenures. The Mayor has been granted £4.82 billion in Government funding for affordable homes (2016-2022), which is intended to fund 116,000 affordable homes by 2022. The delivery date has now been extended to 2023 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Yet the current London Plan, according to Planning Inspectors, has the capacity to deliver only 52,000 net new homes per year, over the next 20-25 years.



In 2019/20, 17,256 affordable starts were made supported by Mayoral funding, meeting the Mayor’s minimum target of 17,000-23,000 starts. This is the highest number of affordable starts ever recorded by the GLA. However 57,040 homes still need to be started to meet the target of 116,000 homes by 2023. That means an average of 19,013 starts per year are needed for the next three years to meet the target.



The top five boroughs for highest affordable starts in the current Mayoral term were: Tower Hamlets (4,429), Brent (4,203), Ealing (4,144), Newham (3,217) and Southwark (2,910) and the boroughs with the lowest were Richmond upon Thames (191), Sutton (336), Bromley (435), Kensington and Chelsea (407), and Kingston upon Thames (524).³



The top five boroughs for highest affordable completions in the current Mayoral term were: Tower Hamlets (3,544), Southwark (1,552), Ealing (1,546), Greenwich (1,476) and Lambeth (1,434) and the boroughs with the lowest were: Havering (109), Richmond upon Thames (168), Kingston Upon Thames (244), Hillingdon (251), and Merton (258).⁴



The Government has recently announced that London will receive £4 billion as part of the next Affordable Homes Programme (2021-2026). The Mayor and the Government are currently in negotiation about what the Mayor will deliver with this funding.



Murad Qureshi AM, Chair of the Housing Committee, said:



“There is still a long way to go before London’s housing needs are met and these affordable homes progress figures show that Mayor Sadiq Khan still has a tough job on his hands. Despite increasing numbers over his mayoral term, the Mayor must continue to increase annual output to reach his target of 116,000 affordable starts by 2023.



“As London’s share of the next Affordable Homes Programme has decreased, there may be further challenges ahead. More progress could be made with affordable housing if the Government devolves more powers and funding to the Mayor.



“The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted housing delivery in the capital, but we don’t know the full extent yet. What is clear though is that affordable housing isn’t an area to be glossed over, as it heavily impacts so many Londoners, who need a home that is truly affordable.



“The London Assembly Housing Committee will keep a close watch on the Mayor’s record and we will continue to press to make sure Londoners have access to an affordable home.”