London mayor agrees 22% cut in affordable housing target
London's mayor and the government have announced a cut of more than 6,000 homes to the affordable homes programme.The Greater London Assembly (GLA) and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said an agreement had been reached "to adjust London's target for the Affordable Homes Programme for 2021-2026 from the previous range of 23,900 to 27,100 starts".The reduction – with a new target range of between 17,800 to 19,000 - represents a cut of 22%.Deputy mayor for housing, Tom Copley, said Sir Sadiq Kahn was "taking the hard decisions to improve housing supply of all tenures".
London is "by some accounts" the most expensive city in the world to build in, the GLA said.It said the decision "responds to the difficult conditions London currently faces and will allow the GLA to ensure the delivery of more schemes and complete the maximum number of affordable and social homes in the 2021-2026 programme".The GLA said it intended to deliver "at least the mid-point of target range" of 17,800 to 19,000 new homes by 2026.
'More expensive to build homes'
Copley blamed the "horrendous legacy of the last government", as well as high interest rates, spiralling building costs and "the lasting impact of Brexit" for the cut in the target.He said those factors "made it harder and more expensive to build homes".The GLA said policy issues that arose under the previous government, including delays receiving sign off with the Building Safety Regulator (BSR), has driven up the cost of building the capital.New builds in London tend to be denser and taller buildings, which are costlier per unit. The GLA said while the BSR "was created to drive well intentioned improvements to building safety, the government has acknowledged that the BSR's current approach has also made it significantly slower to build new homes". In November it was reported that the number of affordable homes started in London had fallen 88 per cent, new statistics have revealed.According to government data, 3,156 affordable housing builds began work across Greater London between April 2023 and March 2024, down from 26,386 starts in the previous 12 months.
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