London boroughs have delivered just over a quarter of the annual affordable homes target from the mayor’s London Plan.
The 33 boroughs completed 4,703 affordable homes in 2017-18, just 28% of the 17,000 target, according to the mayor’s annual monitoring report.
The boroughs delivered 32,083 homes, achieving 76% of the 42,000 overall housing goal.
Some 15% of homes delivered were affordable, compared with 17% the previous year.
Tower Hamlets completed the largest number of affordable homes, at 566, making up 28% of the total homes delivered. This was boosted by homes at the council-delivered scheme at Watts Grove (pictured) with 148 affordable homes.
Local authorities have self-imposed affordable housing policies for large schemes ranging from 30-50%. In 2017-18, Barking & Dagenham delivered the highest proportion of affordable housing, with 191 making up 32% of total housing delivered.
Brent recorded the lowest level of affordable homes delivery, with a loss of 147 homes, compared with an overall gain of 1,910 homes driven by private delivery.
London’s pipeline of 276,959 consented homes includes 49,033 affordable homes, 18% of housing delivery.
Newham has the largest number of consented affordable homes in the pipeline at 5,506. This is followed by Tower Hamlets with 5,088 affordable homes, making up 19% of its pipeline.
Barking & Dagenham’s pipeline promises the largest proportion of affordable homes, making up 31% of homes in the pipeline against a current target of 35% in policy.
Social housing losses
The London Plan calls for 60% of affordable homes to be delivered at social or affordable rents, with 40% of homes at intermediate levels.
However, the pipeline is currently weighted to intermediate homes, which make up 59% of homes. This is followed by 29% affordable rented and 12% social rented.
There is a net gain of 6,091 social rented homes planned across the capital, with a loss of 10,750 homes offset by an addition of 16,841.
Almost a third of London boroughs have projected losses in their social rented stock, with a collective reduction of 4,400 homes across nine boroughs.
The largest social housing losses are in Ealing (-1,296), Southwark (-992) and Hackney (-558).
The remaining two-thirds of boroughs provide 10,531 social rented homes, with the largest gains from Barking & Dagenham (1,455), Newham (1,223) and Tower Hamlets (1,188).
Major cuts to social rented homes include losses at Gascoigne Estate East in Barking & Dagenham, Aylesbury Estate in Southwark and Acton Gardens in Ealing.
The largest provision of social rented housing was at L&Q’s Barking Riverside, followed by additions at Earls Court and Montreaux’s Southall Gas Works in Ealing.
In response to the annual loss of social-rented homes, an Ealing Council spokesman said: “This is a statistical blip. As part of our estate regeneration programme, a number of old council homes need to be demolished to make way for new ones.
“With 1,138 homes in the pipeline over the coming years, we are directly building more genuinely affordable homes for social rent than any other council in London. Those homes will count towards our ambitious target of creating 2,500 new genuinely affordable homes in the borough by April 2022.”
John Biggs, mayor of Tower Hamlets, said: “We are committed to having 2,000 new council homes in delivery by 2022 and I am pleased to see that the annual London Plan figures show that we are the largest contributors of affordable housing and second-largest of social housing against London Plan targets. However, we are not complacent and we continue to make housing a key priority in our borough. ’’
Deputy mayor for planning, regeneration and skills, Jules Pipe, said: “The mayor is doing everything he can to deliver the homes Londoners need using the powers and resources he has – including a set of bold policies around genuinely affordable housing in his new London Plan – and is already building record numbers of social rented and council homes.
“These figures are for 2017/18 and it will take time for this new approach to be reflected in completion statistics.”
The new draft London Plan has called for an annual housing target of 65,000, with a strategic affordable housing target of 50%, but greater flexibility on tenure.
It specifies that 30% of these homes should be social or affordable, with 30% at intermediate levels and 40% to be decided by the local authority.
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