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London sees ‘record’ number of affordable homes started in the past year
London mayor Sadiq Khan has reported a “record-breaking” number of affordable home starts in the capital for 2019/20, meeting his 17,000-home target agreed with government.
Figures published today show that 17,256 affordable homes were started across London in the year ending 31 March 2020 – the highest number of affordable homes starts since the Greater London Authority (GLA) began counting in 2002/03.
It is up from the 14,544 affordable starts achieved in 2018/19.
More than 3,300 new council homes were also started over the past year, which is the most since 1984/85.
A total of 7,156 homes were started for social rent, an increase of 80% since last year. This figure includes London Affordable Rent – Mr Khan’s slightly more expensive social rent-approximate product.
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Mr Khan said: “Today’s record-breaking figures show that we are doing more than ever before to tackle the capital’s housing crisis by building more of the genuinely affordable homes Londoners need, but we know there is a mountain to climb to kick-start the housing sector again as we ease out of lockdown.
“Now government needs to match our ambition and determination. We have proved that we can make sustained progress and now we need ministers to acknowledge this and support us with the funding and resources we need to support the London housing sector as it emerges from the coronavirus crisis.”
The London mayor initially vowed to build 116,000 affordable homes in the capital by 2022, helped by a £4.82bn grant secured from government.
But even with today’s numbers, the rate of affordable housing delivery would need to nearly double in the next two years for that goal to be met.
The figures come after the GLA’s COVID-19 Housing Delivery Taskforce was assembled to establish how the sector can adapt during the coronavirus outbreak.
City Hall also noted that the record-breaking figures have been achieved despite uncertainty caused by the prospect of a no-deal Brexit and the impact of coronavirus in the final weeks of the financial year, which Savills estimates stopped 28,600 London projects that were already underway.
