Twelve housing associations have promised to partner with London councils to develop new homes on their behalf and maximise their own social rented delivery.
In the G15 offer to London, the housing associations pledged to enter not-for-profit partnership, collaborating on land acquisition, modular construction techniques, regeneration, and to lobby government for increased grant funding.
Members will meet with each borough’s elected leaders and mayors, hoping to act as delivery vehicles for ambitious social home targets.
The G15 group is responsible for some 600,000 properties and a quarter of new builds in London last year. Its members include Clarion, L&Q and Metropolitan Thames Valley.
Paul Hackett, G15 chair and chief executive of Optivo, said: “Everyone recognises that solving this crisis can’t be left to traditional builders alone. For the first time in many years, councils’ ambitions to build more homes can become a reality and we stand side-by-side with them in our desire to deliver genuinely affordable homes.
James Murray, London’s deputy mayor for housing and residential development, said: “The mayor is determined to use all the powers and resources he has to build new council, social rented, and other genuinely affordable homes. But he cannot do it alone.
“These commitments from the G15 are an opportunity to forge bespoke and imaginative new partnerships that could help us all build more affordable homes, more quickly.”
The two parties have benefited from significant GLA grants this year. In October Sadiq Khan announced a £1bn plan for councils over the next four years, with a further £490m boost to housing associations this week. It follows the lifting of the Housing Revenue Account cap, which experts believe could unlock a further £10-15bn nationwide.
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