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London Housing Bank in trouble as developers reject programme
Boris Johnson’s new ‘housing bank’ is likely to undershoot its target to create 3,000 homes, as documents show developers are planning to build just 106 properties by the 2018 deadline.
The £200m London Housing Bank offers funding to developers of large-scale schemes which already have planning consent but are stalled by funding issues.
The London Housing Strategy said 3,000 homes should be built with the loans by March 2018.
However, according to documents published by the Greater London Authority (GLA), of the 643 homes currently seeking funding, just 106 have been identified as deliverable by the March 2018 deadline.
Under the London Housing Bank programme, the homes will be let to Londoners at 80% market rent or below for 10 years, before being sold on with the loan repaid to City Hall.
A spokesperson for the GLA said: ‘Following an assessment, initial funding allocations are proposed this month, with further funds available to developers on a continuous basis. The London Housing Bank will accelerate the delivery of market homes, offering them to occupiers at rents 20% below market values.
‘The Mayor is on target to deliver a record 100,000 low cost homes for Londoners over his two terms, and this year more affordable homes are set to be built than in any other since the early 1980s.
‘Nonetheless, developers, planners, the boroughs, government and City Hall must work even harder to stimulate economic growth and deliver the record number of good homes hard working Londoners deserve.’
The mayor’s London Housing Strategy, sets out a target to build at least 42,000 homes a year.
