Abolishing affordable housing thresholds in and around London could provide an extra 3,000 affordable homes a year, according to a report commissioned by mayor for London Ken Livingstone.
Thresholds for Application of Affordable Housing Requirements, commissioned by Livingstone and the Government Office for London, advocates removing current thresholds.
These oblige developers to include affordable housing only on schemes where they are building more than 15 units in inner London, or 25 units in outer London.
The report is written by the Three Dragons group and Nottingham Trent University, whose work underpins much of the mayor’s housing strategy. It recommends that:
- the current thresholds are reduced to 10 or 5 affordable houses
or - each borough is allowed to set its own threshold based on the level of affordable housing development it requires and the extent to which this can be achieved without relying on smaller sites.
Neale Coleman, the mayor’s policy director for housing, said: “The mayor supports reducing or abolishing the affordable housing thresholds to help increase the supply of affordable homes in the capital.
“This timely report estimates that if thresholds were abolished, potentially around 2,900 extra affordable homes could be provided each year on small sites.
“Reducing thresholds would help boroughs achieve the mayor’s minimum target of 10,000 affordable homes for London each year – and provide a vital boost for those in housing need or who are priced out of the market.”
Although such a change would require new guidance from government, the ODPM said in its Communities Plan that it would consult on changing the thresholds.
The report will be used as evidence at the Examination in Public of the mayor’s draft London Plan, which is ongoing and runs until 17 April.
References: EGi News 17/03/03
