Sadiq Khan is drawing attention to London’s housing crisis, accusing property developers of building too many luxury penthouses.
The Mayor of London said that the rate of new housing needs to increase to 66,000 new houses a year – 65 percent of which need to be affordable. This is compared to the 29,000 homes a year that are currently being built, only 38 percent of which are affordable.
“The housing crisis is a major factor in the high cost of living in the capital, as well as putting home ownership out of the reach of many young Londoners who fear they will never get a foot on the property ladder,” said Khan to The Guardian.
“In the worst cases, it can affect social cohesion, cause poor health and plunge residents into poverty. I cannot overestimate how terrible a situation we inherited.”
This comes ahead of Khan’s draft London Plan, which will be published next month.
“Successive prime ministers have failed to invest anywhere near enough in building new affordable homes. The previous mayor [Boris Johnson] stopped investing in homes for social rent altogether and cut the number of new affordable homes he funded to the lowest level since records began,” said the London Mayor in a statement.
Khan hopes the new figures will put enough pressure on Phillip Hammond to increase the budget for affordable housing subsidies from £500 million to £2.7 billion a year.
“The Mayor is right to ramp up pressure on the need for more affordable homes. His #LondonIsOpen campaign isn’t yet a reality, because London is only open to those who can afford to live here,” said Naomi Smith, executive director of campaigns at London First.
“With average rents topping £1,700 a month, too many workers are being priced out of the capital and it’s hurting employers’ ability to recruit and retain talent. The cost of living has risen dramatically in the capital because we’ve not built enough homes. When supply rises, prices fall. It’s that simple. The Mayor needs to bring forward public land for development more quickly, using the powers he has to do so and Government needs to give a major cash injection to housebuilding.”