Mayor welcomes biggest ever funding settlement for affordable housebuilding in the capital as huge win for Londoners

• Mayor welcomes biggest and longest ever funding settlement for housing from the Government, as well as key policy changes called for by City Hall to boost the delivery of social and affordable homes across the capital
• London will receive £11.7 billion over ten years – up to 30 per cent of the national total – through the Government’s new Social and Affordable Homes Programme
• New funding will support the Mayor to build on his housing record, which includes the highest level of council housebuilding in London since the 1970s and record overall housing completions since the 1930s
• The Mayor believes there is still a long way to go to fix the housing crisis and pledges to work with Ministers to secure even more support to help build the level of genuinely affordable homes London needs 

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today hailed the package of changes announced by the Government – including the biggest and longest funding settlement that the capital has ever received for affordable and social housebuilding - as a huge win for all Londoners.

London is set to receive £11.7 billion over the next ten years - up to 30 per cent of the Government’s new £39 billion Affordable Homes Programme - to support social and affordable housebuilding. It comes as the Government confirms crucial policy changes, including a move towards rent convergence, a ten-year social rent deal and new flexibilities to let boroughs combine Right to Buy receipts with grant funding to safeguard council homes.

Sadiq has long argued that tackling London’s housing crisis is critical to realising national growth ambitions, calling for a new funding deal and policy reforms to put the capital on track to deliver the scale of genuinely affordable and social housing that Londoners desperately need.

This long-term deal marks a new chapter for London and a much-needed departure from the disastrous legacy of the previous Government, which left housebuilding across the country on its knees through 14 years of underinvestment, high interest rates, rising construction costs and the lasting impact of a hard Brexit.

Despite these challenges, London has seen green shoots of growth, including a 70 per cent rise in affordable housing starts last year and the highest number of homes at social rent levels in a decade also completed last year.

Today’s funding deal will enable the Mayor to further build on his track record in office. This includes completing more homes than at any time since the 1930s prior to the pandemic, using planning powers to drive the proportion of affordable housing in major developments up to 42 per cent, hitting the previous Government’s target of starting 116,000 new genuinely affordable homes, taking council housebuilding to its highest level since the 1970s, and starting over 25,000 affordable homes in 2023 alone – the highest number since Greater London Authority records began. [1]

Sadiq has pledged to work with Ministers to secure even more support - including further investment in transport and housing - to meet his ambition of building 40,000 new council homes by the end of the decade and the level of genuinely affordable homes London needs. This includes continuing to push for investment in transport infrastructure in London, which would unlock tens of thousands of new homes in the capital.  

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: "I welcome this funding settlement, and want to thank the Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner. This is the biggest and longest the capital has ever received, and proposed policy reforms which I’ve been calling for to help boost the delivery of social and affordable homes in London.  

“After 14 years of underinvestment and indifference towards social and affordable housebuilding under the previous Government, London now has an opportunity to deliver more of the homes Londoners desperately need as we work to build a better, fairer London for everyone.

“There's still a long way to go to fix the housing crisis in London and I will continue to work closely with the Government to secure even more national support to help build the level of new housing London needs. This includes investment in transport infrastructure, which would unlock thousands of new homes in the capital."

ENDS