Improving opportunities for social renters to move to new areas and tenures

What do we mean by mobility?

There are two types of mobility:

• Geographical mobility – opportunities for social tenants to move to other parts of London and beyond.
• Tenure mobility – opportunities for social tenants to move to the private or intermediate market.

Increasing opportunities for mobility

Most social renters currently have very limited opportunities to move to homes outside their borough. The Mayor has initiated a number of projects to ensure that social tenants:

• have similar choices over where they live as people who buy or privately rent their home
• can benefit from the new affordable homes being built in the capital, wherever they are located
• are able to move to a new area for family reasons or to take advantage of job or training opportunities
• have the opportunity to downsize, thus freeing up larger homes in the capital
• can access homes located within their local area, even if these are just over a borough boundary.

The Mayor’s FIRST STEPS programme aims to help many more Londoners onto the housing ladder. This includes improving tenure mobility for social renters. Read more about FIRST STEPS.

The Mayor is working with the Homes and Communities Agency, boroughs and other social landlords to set up a pan-London mobility scheme that will enable social renters to move around the capital.

The Mayor is also helping Londoners who wish to move outside the capital by

• running the Seaside and Country Homes scheme (part of the housingmoves service), for people aged 60 and over
• developing Homes Out of London – a new scheme for younger people.

London Housing Strategy