The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has heralded a new era for council housing in London as new figures show City Hall investment kept councils building at near-record levels during the pandemic.
In 2020/21, work started on 3,156 new council homes funded by the Greater London Authority. These figures have only been exceeded once, in 2019/20, when the Mayor funded work to start on 3,304 new council homes. This was the highest number since 1983 and a record-high since housing funding was devolved to City Hall in 2012.
These figures mean that despite the impact of the global pandemic and the uncertainty surrounding Brexit, the number of new council homes started in the final year of Sadiq’s first term was seven times the number started in the final year of the previous administration. Over the five years of Sadiq’s first term in office, the average number of council homes started almost doubled compared to the previous Mayor’s second term.
The number of completed council homes, meanwhile, rose year-on year by 16 per cent, with 900 new GLA funded council homes completed in 2020/21.
This success can be attributed both to the Mayor’s leadership in pioneering the ‘Building Council Homes for Londoners programme’ and the growing enthusiasm for council home building being displayed by authorities across London. 25 per cent of homes funded through the Mayor’s Affordable Homes Programme last year were council homes – a new record.
The need for council homes and other genuinely affordable homes in London has never been more acute, with the effects of the Coronavirus pandemic exacerbating the housing crisis. While the average cost of renting has fallen in London during the pandemic, the capital remains the least affordable area of the country in which to rent, and rent arrears increased sharply as large numbers of Londoners were left without work during the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Government figures show that overcrowding in London nearly doubled in 2020, with private renters and black and minority ethnic families the worst-hit. In December 2020 there were 61,000 homeless households living in temporary accommodation in London, up three per cent from 2019. A Londoner is ten times as likely to be homeless as someone in the rest of England.
Speaking on a visit to William Cuffay House in Southwark – a new development of 17 council homes part funded by the Mayor’s Building Council Homes for Londoners programme – the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “Building genuinely affordable housing is one of my top priorities and I’m proud that we stand at the beginning of a council homebuilding renaissance in London.
“When I was elected five years ago I was determined to do everything I could to help reverse many years of declining council home building. Now, thanks to our hard work, we’re once again seeing these vital homes return to every corner of the capital. I’m delighted to be here in Southwark, a borough that has truly embraced council homebuilding with ambitious targets to start 11,000 homes over the next 20 years.
“But we still have so much to do. We must maintain our relentless focus on tackling London’s housing crisis, push the Government for more funding and deliver the high-quality homes Londoners demand and deserve.”
Councillor Stephanie Cryan, Southwark Cabinet Member for Council Housing and Homelessness, said: “I’m delighted to welcome the Mayor of London to one of our new council blocks, William Cuffay House, which opened its doors to residents earlier this year.
“This fantastic new building is a dedicated council block providing 17 new council homes, and is just one example of the action we’re taking across the borough to tackle the housing crisis locally.
“Our commitment to building 11,000 council homes by 2043 will help to tackle the acute shortage of affordable housing in the borough, providing the safe, secure, high-quality homes that our residents need and deserve.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
- Southwark Council has committed to building 11,000 new council homes across the borough by 2043, with 2,500 of these started on site or delivered by 2022.
- The council is looking at new and innovative ways to build more council homes across the borough. This includes creating new homes on existing estates, on top of existing blocks, as part of other developers’ schemes, and by converting garages and disused areas.
- Under the council’s local lettings policy, at least 50% of any new council homes will be offered to tenants in housing need in the local area. The remaining homes will be allocated to others on the council’s housing register.
- Southwark Council works closely with residents to shape new council homes, from site identification through to consultation, design, planning, and delivery.
- Residents help the council design the look and feel of new homes and amenities that help make their communities stronger, safer, and more rewarding places to live.
- William Cuffay House is named after William Cuffay, the son of a former slave who was a leading figure in the Kennington Chartist movement in the 1800s.
· Building London’s Future – The Next Generation of Council Homes (GLA, October 2020) /sites/default/files/building_londons_future_-_the_next_generation_of_council_homes.pdf
· In London, the Mayor has a strategic role to support the delivery of housing. Increasing the number of genuinely affordable homes – particularly council homes and homes at social rent – is the Mayor’s number one housing priority.
· The proportion of Government subsidy for affordable housing grant has decreased significantly in recent years – from around 50 per cent of the total cost of housing development in 2008, to just 15-20 per cent in 2019. Councils are therefore being expected to deliver more with less and a major increase in Government investment is critical to the success of any future council homebuilding programme – particularly as local authorities face increased funding pressures as a result of the pandemic.
· Alongside the £1bn investment in Building Council Homes for Londoners, City Hall has spent £10 million on a programme of work to help boost skills and knowledge to facilitate council house building in London local authorities.
· Last year the Mayor’s Building London’s Future report called for the Government to put council homebuilding at the centre of London’s recovery. In order to do this, several key reforms were recommended to make it easier for local authorities to build. These included:
-
- legislating to allow councils to purchase land compulsorily more cheaply,
- setting aside more Government-owned land for council housing and
- committing to a decade-long funding plan for council homebuilding and removing counterproductive restrictions on use of Right to Buy receipts
· The latest affordable housing statistics can be found at: /programmes-strategies/housing-and-land/increasing-housing-supply/affordable-housing-statistics
- Work started on an average of 1,787 council homes a year through City Hall’s affordable homes programme in the five years of Sadiq’s first term in office, up from 933 over the previous Mayor’s second term.
- For more information on the Affordable Homes Programme, see: www.london.gov.uk/affordable-homes-programme-2021-2026
- Local authorities are encouraged to bid under this new programme and the Mayor is keen to support councils to build homes at record levels across London.