The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has said that London needs to deliver 66,000 new homes a year, most of which must be affordable, to meet the growing demand for housing. To satisfy this need, Mayor Khan called the Government to significantly increase the funding and powers available to the capital within the Autumn Budget on 22 November 2017.
City Hall stated, the modelling and calculations conducted using its Strategic Housing Market Assessment, estimated, that the funding for affordable housing alone in London should increase to around £2.7 billion a year. This is more than five times the current budget.
Khan said: "The housing crisis is a major factor in the high cost of living in the capital as well as putting home ownership out of the reach of many young Londoners who fear they will never get a foot on a property ladder. In the worst cases it can affect social cohesion, cause poor health, and plunge residents into poverty.
I cannot overestimate how terrible a situation we inherited. Successive prime ministers have failed to invest anywhere near enough in building new affordable homes. the previous mayor stopped investing in homes for social rent altogether and cut the number of new affordable homes he funded to the lowest level since records began."
Mayor Khan developed his draft London Plan, which will be published in November and include some "strong new measures and set ambitious targets for every London borough to move towards this goal".
