Mayor hails council housing renaissance in London

A quarter of homes funded through the London Mayor’s Affordable Homes Programme last year were council homes, the London Assembly has revealed.

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has heralded a new era for council housing in London as new figures show City Hall investment kept councils building at near-record levels during the pandemic.

In 2020/21, work started on 3,156 new council homes funded by the Greater London Authority. These figures have only been exceeded once, in 2019/20, when the mayor funded work to start on 3,304 new council homes.

The London Assembly said this was the highest number since 1983 and a record-high since housing funding was devolved to City Hall in 2012.

These figures mean that despite the impact of the global pandemic and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the number of new council homes started in the final year of Sadiq’s first term was seven times the number started in the final year of the previous administration.

Over the five years of Sadiq’s first term in office, the average number of council homes started almost doubled compared to the previous mayor’s second term. The number of completed council homes, meanwhile, rose year-on-year by 16%, with 900 new GLA funded council homes completed in 2020/21.

The London Assembly said this success can be attributed both to the mayor’s leadership in pioneering the ‘Building Council Homes for Londoners programme’ and the growing enthusiasm for council home building being displayed by authorities across London.

The need for council homes and other genuinely affordable homes in London has never been more acute, with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic exacerbating the housing crisis.

While the average cost of renting has fallen in London during the pandemic, the capital remains the least affordable area of the country in which to rent, and rent arrears increased sharply as large numbers of Londoners were left without work during the pandemic.

Meanwhile, government figures show that overcrowding in London nearly doubled in 2020, with private renters and black and minority ethnic families the worst hit.

In December 2020 there were 61,000 homeless households living in temporary accommodation in London, up three per cent from 2019. A Londoner is ten times as likely to be homeless as someone in the rest of England.

Speaking on a visit to William Cuffay House in Southwark, a new development of 17 council homes part-funded by the mayor’s Building Council Homes for Londoners programme, the mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said:

‘Building genuinely affordable housing is one of my top priorities and I’m proud that we stand at the beginning of a council homebuilding renaissance in London.

‘When I was elected five years ago I was determined to do everything I could to help reverse many years of declining council homebuilding. Now, thanks to our hard work, we’re once again seeing these vital homes return to every corner of the capital.

‘I’m delighted to be here in Southwark, a borough that has truly embraced council homebuilding with ambitious targets to start 11,000 homes over the next 20 years.

‘But we still have so much to do. We must maintain our relentless focus on tackling London’s housing crisis, push the Government for more funding and deliver the high-quality homes Londoners demand and deserve.’

Cllr Stephanie Cryan, Southwark cabinet member for council housing and homelessness, said: ‘I’m delighted to welcome the mayor of London to one of our new council blocks, William Cuffay House, which opened its doors to residents earlier this year.

‘This fantastic new building is a dedicated council block providing 17 new council homes, and is just one example of the action we’re taking across the borough to tackle the housing crisis locally.

‘Our commitment to building 11,000 council homes by 2043 will help to tackle the acute shortage of affordable housing in the borough, providing the safe, secure, high-quality homes that our residents need and deserve.’

Photo Credit – Chuttersnap