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Mayor and Conservatives dispute latest London housing stats
London Conservatives have accused the capital’s mayor Sadiq Khan of falling down on promises to build affordable housing.
The mayor, though, insisted his plans were on track to deliver 14,000 affordable homes this year.
Andrew Boff, a Tory member of the London Assembly housing committee, said figures released by the Greater London Authority showed just 1,097 affordable homes were started between April and June 2018.
He said this meant Mr Khan was unlikely to achieve his affordable housing starts target of 14,000 to 19,000 for this year as he was at least 2,403 short of his target for this quarter.
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Mr Boff said: “I’m not surprised that Sadiq Khan is failing to deliver what he promised to Londoners.
“It’s simply not good enough to produce 1,097 affordable housing starts when his target is 3,500 for this period.
“The mayor has already tried to misguide the public through cooking the books on his affordable housing figures by double-counting new housing starts, but now it is plain to see that he is failing Londoners.”
But a spokesperson for the mayor said: “Tackling London’s housing crisis is one of the mayor’s top priorities, and today’s figures show he is on track to start 116,000 affordable homes by 2022.
“Over a thousand homes have been started in the first quarter of this year – and while figures typically accelerate over the course of the financial year, this year’s total is already six times higher than at the same point last year, showing we are on track to hit this year’s target of 14,000 genuinely affordable homes.”
They added that more than a third of the new homes have been based on social rent levels and that the figures were the first published under a new checking process in line with the UK Statistics Authority’s Code of Practice for Official Statistics.
AFFORDABLE HOUSING STARTS IN LONDON APRIL-JUNE 2018
- 630 London Living Rent/shared ownership
- 329 social rent
- 73 other affordable rent
- 65 affordable tenure to be confirmed
- 40 open market
Source: Greater London Authority
At a glance: the different types of rent in London
Picture: Getty
Social rent: The amount of social rent a person pays depends on the location and size of the property, and is set according to a complex formula, but it is typically set at between 50% and 60% of market rent.
Affordable rent: Introduced by the coalition government in 2011, ‘affordable’ rent can be up to 80% of market rent, although many associations have been charging lower than this.
London Affordable Rent: A tenure introduced by Sadiq Khan that is lower than national affordable rent and based on target rent levels towards which social rents are gradually being raised. This makes it higher than average social rents in the capital, but in line with the rent that would likely be charged if a new social rent unit was built and set according to the same formula.
London Living Rent: A rental product aimed at middle-income Londoners introduced by Sadiq Khan, with rents set at one-third of average local earnings.
Target rent: A social rent level calculated by the government, which council and housing associations should use to move their social rents to over time.
