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City Hall working on post-coronavirus ‘recovery plan’ for housebuilding in London
Sadiq Khan’s team in City Hall has established a taskforce to work on a “recovery plan” for the housing sector in London to help it recover from the likely downturn resulting from coronavirus.
Tom Copley, the new deputy mayor for housing, unveiled the plans today in a column for Inside Housing.
He wrote: “I have set up a small taskforce of leading housing delivery professionals to provide insight into the impacts of the pandemic on housing supply. My team and I will listen and develop a recovery plan for the sector that we will work with government to deliver.
“This plan will seek not only to ensure that the sector is well placed to bounce back, but also that the long-term resilience of the sector is improved and that we are able to deliver the social rented homes that London so desperately needs.”
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Coronavirus has brought a halt to many construction projects in the city, despite government advice that building sites can remain open during the crisis. L&Q and other housing associations have closed sites or have seen them closed down by contractors.
Mr Copley wrote that the economic impacts of the virus on the housebuilding sector would be severe.
“We know from the 2008 economic crisis that an economic shock can cause profound and sustained damage to the housing market and the delivery of new homes,” he said.
During the peak of the 2008 recession, construction in the UK came close to grinding to a complete halt, but a grant package for new social housing was widely credited with keeping activity going.
Mayor of London Mr Khan has been calling for more grant from central government over much of the past year as the supply of new housing in the capital has been hit by the uncertainty surrounding Brexit.
