Delays to London AHP mean more than 90% of all homes need to start in next two years

This challenging economic situation has contributed to a 30% drop in all new build homes being built in the past year. Delays in funding being released by the previous government is another reason for delayed starts under the 2021-26 AHP, according to the GLA.

The figures comes as London’s deputy mayor for housing and residential development said that City Hall’s developer will initially focus on joint ventures and land assembly.

Tom Copley told Inside Housing at the Labour Party Conference that the GLA is currently exploring sites to develop with public and private sector partners.

The GLA has met the government’s target of at least 60% at social rent under the current AHP. This is a much higher proportion than under the AHP 2016-23, which had 39 per cent of starts as either social rent or London Affordable Rent.

The data also shows that in 2023-24, the GLA completed 10,343 homes under the AHP 2016-23. Overall, 56% of these homes have been completed, with 51,412 remaining. While there is not a deadline for completions, the GLA said in 2023 that it expects most of these homes to be completed by 2029.

As with housing starts overall, supported and specialist housing starts fell significantly in 2023-24 compared to the previous year, from 855 to 167.

Sem Moema, chair of the London Assembly Housing Committee, said: “London urgently needs more affordable housing and the additional challenges the GLA has faced in delivering on its targets in the past year has made that need all the more acute.

“There are positive findings in this report: there were over 10,000 GLA-funded completions from the 2016-23 programme, and a high proportion of social rent starts under the 2021-26 programme.

“But there are clear challenges, too. The amount of affordable housing being built for Londoners is still far below what is needed. After delays from the previous government to release grant funding for starts under the 2021-26 programme, and the continuing challenges facing the housing sector in the capital, it is vital that the mayor continues to work closely with the new government, local councils and others in the sector to deliver more of the affordable homes that London needs.”

In response to the latest monitor, Stephanie Pollitt, programme director for housing at BusinessLDN, said: “The capital’s housing crisis is a huge challenge for Londoners as well as businesses trying to recruit and retain staff. 

“One of the key barriers to affordable housing delivery is an inability among housing associations to purchase new homes delivered through Section 106 agreements due to constrained finances.

“We’ve worked with our members to propose short-term, pragmatic interventions to get shovels in the ground, including developers providing direct financial support for local authority housebuilding programmes. With high build and borrowing costs, it is imperative that government at all levels works with the private sector to deliver the homes the capital needs.”

London mayor Sadiq Khan’s manifesto committed to the delivery of 40,000 new council homes by 2030.

In May, he called for a £2.2bn emergency stimulus for housebuilding in London, as affordable housing starts fell 90% over a 12-month period.

The recently re-elected mayor of London said the money was needed as government investment in housing was too low.