More affordable homes for London
Nicky Gavron’s claims (Inside Housing, 26 February) about Boris Johnson’s plans to deliver more houses in London are littered with inaccuracies; unintentional or otherwise, they need to be corrected.
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The mayor will deliver at least 50,000 affordable homes for Londoners. Each will be a new affordable home, not a single replacement for a demolished house or flat will be counted.
Mr Johnson’s housing targets are ambitious, but they’re achievable, too. Whereas the previous mayor promised 13,500 new affordable homes annually in his second term, government completion figures show he only managed an average of 6,870. Mr Johnson surpassed that number in his first year.
In housing, it’s outcomes and delivery that matter. The obsession with top-down targets demonstrates a dearth of new ideas and an attempt to cling to the failed policies of the past.
The imposed 50 per cent affordable homes target has rightly been dropped; anyway, it never helped Ken Livingstone, who only managed 34 per cent.
The mayor has adopted a co-operative approach, working with boroughs to create more housing. In Croydon, we’ve agreed to 1,803 new homes with the mayor’s office and already developed the first family-sized council homes for 20 years. Through this partnership strategy, Mr Johnson will achieve far more for housing in London without the need to impose targets.
Steve O’Connell, London Assembly Conservative Group Housing spokesman, assembly member for Croydon and Sutton