Impact of the pandemic on your housing situation

The coronavirus pandemic has increased the housing challenges faced by many Londoners:

• Over 400,000 Londoners are likely to be significantly behind on their rent by the end of 2021.
• Unemployed Londoners on universal credit can expect to have just £237 a month to cover their living expenses after paying rent.
• Many Londoners say they’re looking to move out of the capital because of housing costs. Growing living costs, including higher utility bills, are among the challenges preventing people from finding the home they want in London.

Other Londoners may be better off because of increased savings or other improvements in their situation.

As London starts to recover from the pandemic, the London Assembly Housing Committee wants to understand the human impact of the housing challenge. How are Londoners’ situations changing? Are some groups of people affected more than others? And what are the links between housing costs and Londoners’ budgets, savings and debt?

We will review how people’s finances are changing because of the pandemic, and how this affects their ability to pay their housing costs.

We want to find out if these pressures are affecting some groups more than others. To do this, we will talk to a wide range of Londoners with different backgrounds, situations and occupations.

We will collect evidence and stories about people’s experiences through:

• surveys and polls
• meetings with the public
• online discussions.

This investigation will document a timely snapshot of the changing situations for Londoners. We will produce a report to highlight the findings and to share some of the stories we’ve heard from Londoners. These findings will help the Housing Committee continue to represent Londoners’ housing needs to the Mayor and the government.

The London Assembly holds the Mayor and Mayoral advisers to account by publicly examining policies and programmes through committee meetings, plenary sessions, site visits and investigations. 

Assembly investigations are carried out by cross-party committees.

The Housing Committee examines matters relating to housing in London and takes a lead on scrutiny of the Mayor's Housing Strategy. The Committee has lead responsibility for the scrutiny of:

• the Homes for Londoners Board
• GLA Land and Property Company
• Barking Riverside Limited
• the Greenwich Peninsula Strategic Board.