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London must build 6,500 affordable homes in three months to hit mayor’s target

The mayor of London will need to see nearly 6,500 affordable homes started in the final quarter of 2018/19 if he is to hit his target of 12,500 affordable housing starts across the year.

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Mayor of London Sadiq Khan
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan
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London must build 6,500 affordable homes in three months to hit mayor’s target @Sadiqkhan #ukhousing

The Greater London Authority’s (GLA) latest quarterly statistics on housing starts revealed that a total of 6,066 affordable homes had been started through GLA housing programmes in the nine months to 31 December 2018.

The latest figures mean that in the last quarter of the year, the mayor would need to see 6,434 affordable homes started to achieve his pledge of delivering between 12,500 and 16,500 affordable homes this year.

The mayor currently has an aim of delivering 113,000 housing starts by March 2022, including 105,000 affordable homes. This is supported by £4.8bn of funding that the mayor has been able to secure from the government.

Of the 6,066 homes started so far in 2017/18, 1,324 were for social rent, 3,103 were for shared ownership or London Living Rent, and the remainder were for other tenures.


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An additional 159 homes were built for the open market over the nine-month period, taking the total number of housing starts to 6,225.

Andrew Boff, who is a Conservative London Assembly member and part of the London Assembly’s Housing Committee, blasted the latest figures, calling them “deeply disappointing”.

He said that the mayor was “simply failing to get London building” and “homeownership was becoming even more of an impossible dream for Londoners”.

They said: "The mayor surpassed his housing target last year – starting more social and affordable homes than ever before - and is firmly on track to hit the even higher target this year. Quarterly numbers increase towards the end of the financial period in all housing programmes, as assembly member Boff knows full well.”

The London Borough of Brent was the local authority area with the most affordable home starts across the period, having started 912 homes in the nine months up to December 2018.

Tower Hamlets had the second highest number of affordable home starts, with 514, while Ealing was third, with 430 starts.

The latest housing starts statistics come as pressure ramps up on Mr Khan’s track record in delivering new homes in the capital.

Last month housing secretary James Brokenshire said the Greater London Authority needed to “urgently pick up” the number of affordable homes being built across the capital.

A report by the London Assembly’s Housing Committee in November was also highly critical of Mr Khan’s performance, saying he had fallen short of his promises around affordable housing.

London saw 12,555 affordable houses started in the 12 months to 31 March 2018, with 2,652 of those being for social rent.

This marked a major increase from the preceding three years, which saw 7,915 affordable homes started in 2016/17, 7,231 started in 2015/16, and 9,586 delivered in 2014/15.

The year 2017/18 saw a number of boroughs break the 1,000-home barrier, with Newham delivering 1,789 affordable housing starts, Tower Hamlets starting 1,566 and Ealing starting 1,037 homes.

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