Size Matters: The need for more family homes in London

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The Assembly's research highlights that in many boroughs, housing provision is falling behind ambitious targets. Furthermore, where developers are meeting targets, they may not be meeting local need. In order to meet their ‘affordable units’ targets, house-builders often supply only the smallest units, as they are the cheapest. We found that there is a surplus of some 12,000 one-bedroom properties, but a shortfall of over 28,000 two, three and four bedroom dwellings for which there is the greatest need.

Our report primarily presses for greater clarity in defining ‘affordable housing’ in borough development plans and for changes to the Mayor’s London Plan, his main strategic planning document, to better incentivise the building of homes with more bedrooms and more sophisticated methods of calculating necessary housing requirements.