Conservative London mayoral candidate Samuel Kasumu has outlined plans to make boroughs that slow housing development more accountable and improve ties with private capital to bolster housebuilding.
A former Downing Street adviser to Boris Johnson, Kasumu is one of nine Conservative candidates to put forward his candidacy for next year’s London mayoral election.
Speaking at a SAV Group event, Kasumu told EG that, under his leadership, every borough would have to submit data every year on how many planning applications it had approved, how many homes had been built, how many obstacles it had overcome, and how many “blockages” it had created.
He added that the data would be easily accessible, and those in the bottom quartile would be asked to give an account in a public hearing.
Kasumu said when dealing with the housing crisis in London the government had tried the carrot for many years, but now it was time to try to the stick.
“We need to hold people’s feet to the fire, and we need a mayor who is unapologetic about it,” he added.
Standing against rent caps
Kasumu is campaigning to be the Tory mayoral candidate that will run against Labour’s Sadiq Khan, who is a strong advocate for rent control in London.
Rent caps are not a mechanism that Kasumu believes in. He highlighted that the majority of homeowners and landlords in the city are “ordinary people”.
“If you have rent caps while mortgages are going up, you will find yourself in a position where many ordinary landlords cannot afford to pay their mortgages,” said Kasumu.
Speaking on his opponent’s position on the matter, Kasumu added: “[Sadiq Khan] needs to focus on things he has the power to do, and [rent control] is not one of them.
“If you are the mayor, you should be very proactive in using the power and resources at your disposal and not necessarily worry about things you cannot change.”
Improving links with private capital
As part of his aim to make housing his number one priority on the first day of his possible appointment, Kasumu has pledged to reopen the London Plan.
“The current mayor’s plans are for 52,000 homes a year to be built and he is meeting less than half that target, and the objectively assessed need is 66,000 homes at the moment,” he said.
In addition to the access to capital that the mayor has through Homes England, Kasumu believes there is a clear role for private capital when it comes to housebuilding.
“There are challenges around interest rates, but we have to get to a point where private capital is more patient when looking for returns on their investment,” he added.
Kasumu is also keen to encourage private capital to be more “radical about how they are they are utilising capital”, to facilitate the development of “genuinely affordable” homes.
In his capacity as the potential future mayor of London, Kasumu said he was looking to foster a range of relationships with private capital.
“There is multiplicity of challenges that we have to deal with when it comes to building homes,” he said. “There are so many stakeholders that need to have a seat at the table.”
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