Affordable housing starts across London have hit the highest level since 2011, with 12,526 homes coming out of the ground in the year to 31 March 2018.
That means London mayor Sadiq Khan has just exceeded his London Plan target of 12,500 homes. However, in the new draft London Plan, Khan has increased the total home building target from 42,000 to 65,000, of which he has said half should be affordable.
Social rent housing has also made somewhat of a comeback, with more homes starting construction in the 2017/18 calendar year than the four preceding years combined.
Affordable housing delivery took a dive between 2011 and 2012, following the end of the National Affordable Housing Programme, a key government funding programme. This coincided with the coalition government’s 60% cut in the national affordable housing budget from £8.4bn to £4.4bn in 2010 for the four-year period to 2014-15.
City Hall subsequently took over responsibility for funding affordable housing in April 2012, when it was delegated to the Mayor of London.
A spokesman for Khan said: “The mayor welcomes these latest figures, which show 12,526 new affordable homes were started over the past 12 months, including thousands at social rent levels.
“Sadiq is clear that while this is a positive start on the first set of homes he has funded, there is more work to be done to tackle the housing crisis in London.”
The latest figures reveal a 40% increase on 2015/16, when starts hit a low of 7,467.
Richard Brown, research director at Centre for London said: “Almost a third of the 90,000 affordable homes that the Homes for Londoners programme promises have now started on site but City Hall and its partners will have to speed up over the next three years to meet the overall target.”
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