We will deliver more and better affordable housing for Londoners. In particular, family-sized homes to ease overcrowding.
Affordable housing for Londoners
Delivering record numbers of affordable homes for Londoners
In the two years of this Mayoralty, we have already delivered over 26,000 more affordable homes for London. To achieve our target of 50,000 affordable homes for Londoners by 2012, the new government must protect vital investment in housing. We’re currently investing over £1 billion a year and it's now more important than ever to continue this investment in high quality, good value affordable housing.
Despite being a prosperous city, London has the country's biggest housing problems. Londoners are in urgent need of family-sized social rented homes to tackle the capital’s chronic overcrowding problems. Better housing will lead to better health and education, and help to deliver savings by reducing the reliance on expensive temporary accommodation.
We have already delivered 26,014 more affordable homes including the largest proportion of family sized units for a decade; and we are over halfway towards achieving our target of 50,000 affordable homes by 2012 – a record number in a single Mayoral term.
View an interactive map of figures on Affordable Housing in London from 2005/06 to 2009/10
About affordable housing
Affordable housing is designed to meet the needs of people who are unable to afford decent and appropriate housing in their borough. There are two types of affordable housing – social rented and intermediate.
Social rented housing is provided by a landlord where access is on the basis of housing need, and rents are no higher than target rents set by the government for housing association and local authority rents.
Intermediate housing is housing at prices and rents above those of social rent, but below market price or rents, and which meet the criteria for affordable housing set out above. Intermediate housing can include shared equity products, other low cost homes for sale and intermediate rent.
The Mayor is increasing the amount and range of affordable housing in London by:
- removing the one-size fits all affordable housing target for London boroughs and agreeing individual housing targets with boroughs that take into account local circumstances
- providing many more social rented homes
- delivering more family-sized affordable homes, to tackle overcrowding and homelessness. In July 2010, the Mayor published the London Overcrowding Action Plan to help deliver the target set in the London Housing Strategy to halve severe overcrowding in the capital by 2016.
- helping more Londoners get on the housing ladder through his First Steps programme.
Find out more about Accessing Intermediate Housing
>We are on target to deliver 50,000 affordable homes by 2012.
