The Mayor’s Affordable Housing Delivery

The London Assembly Housing Committee will investigate the Greater London Authority (GLA)'s progress against its delivery targets for the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) 2016-23 and 2021-26. 

• Scrutinise the GLA’s progress against its delivery targets for the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) 2016-23 and 2021-26. 
• Examine the GLA’s plans to meet its overall target for the 2021-26 programme during its final year, 2025-26. 
• Understand the views of housing associations and councils on the design of the next AHP. 
• Examine the GLA’s plans for the next AHP, including design, monitoring and transparency. 
   

• London has an acute need for affordable housing, with the number of Londoners living in temporary accommodation at a record high.^[1] However, London faces considerable delivery challenges, such as complex brownfield sites, high land costs, and increased interest rates. Councils and housing associations have less capital to invest in new supply, as more is spent spending upgrading existing homes and on temporary accommodation.  
• The AHP is the main government fund for building social and affordable housing in England. It is administered by the GLA in London and by Homes England across the rest of the country. No other areas of the country have a devolved AHP. It is the largest funding source currently available to the Mayor. 
• Since the current Mayor was elected, he has mainly delivered housing under two overlapping AHPs – the 2016-23 and 2021-26 programmes. The 2016-23 programme reached completion in March 2023 when the target for 116,000 starts was met. This was in part due to over 25,000 homes being delivered in 2022/23, the highest since records began in 2013/14. Completions of these homes are currently ongoing.
• Progress under the AHP 2021-26 has been slow and delivery targets have been reduced. The original target set was for 35,000 starts between 2021-2026. In May 2025, the Mayor and government agreed to reduce the programme’s target to 17,800-19,000 starts. In 2024-25, 3,991 affordable homes were started in London (the second lowest since records began in 2013/14). To meet the lower threshold target of 17,800 starts, the GLA needs to deliver 12,612 starts in 2025-26.^[2] 
• In June 2025 at the Spending Review, the Chancellor announced an additional £39bn of investment over ten years through the new national Affordable Homes Programme.^[3] In July 2025, it was announced that the Mayor will receive £11.7bn of this funding.
• The GLA records and publishes data on housing starts and completions under the AHP, broken down by borough. However, there is limited information on the number of bedrooms, environmental standards, and accessibility features of the homes funded through the AHPs. 
   

1. Will the GLA meet its reduced target of 17,800-19,000 starts for the AHP 2021-26, and what will be the relative split of acquisitions and new builds? How will the GLA work with investment partners over the next year to meet this target?
2. How will the GLA meet its target to deliver all completions under the AHP 2021-26 programme by 2030? 
3. What are the typical size and quality of homes built and acquired under the AHP, and are these homes located where they are most needed? Does the data that the GLA publishes on the AHP allow a good understanding of this? 
4. How does the GLA support local authorities struggling to build, particularly those with high relative affordable housing need? 
5. What works well about how the GLA has run the current AHP, and what should be done differently in the next AHP to maximise impact from additional funding? How will this impact which tenure types are prioritised?  
    

The Committee has launched a call for evidence to learn more about GLA investment partners’ experience of the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26 and their priorities for the next AHP.

The deadline for response is Friday, 8 August. 

1. Temporary accommodation over time in London (updated 2025) | Trust for London
2. Research unit analysis of GLA, Affordable Housing statistics, 14 May 2025.
3. Spending Review 2025 (HTML) - GOV.UK