Mayor 'Will Not Meet Affordable Housing Targets'

12.00.00am GMT Tue 28th May 2002

London's affordable housing crisis set to continue

Mayor Ken Livingstone has admitted that not enough affordable homes are being built to meet targets set by his Housing Commission.

The London Assembly Liberal Democrats have discovered that only 4,000 affordable homes are being built annually in London. The Mayor's own research shows that 28,000 additional affordable homes need to be built every year for the next ten years1 but his planning policies could only, at the most achieve, half that target.2

The Mayor also said, at last week's London Assembly meeting, that the number of units being built as a direct result of steps he has taken does not meet the targets.

Mike Tuffrey, the Lib Dem Assembly member who uncovered the shortfall, said:

"The Mayor recently claimed the credit for the increase to the housing supply of 20,730 new homes of all tenures, despite this taking place before he took office in 2000."

"But according to his Commission, 43,000 new homes need to be built each year - 28,000 of which need to be affordable housing. Despite designating that up to 50% of all new housing should be affordable, if only 20,000 homes are being built annually, the Mayor will not bridge this gap.

"Ken Livingstone has been unable to provide us with any answers for how he intends to resolve this. Instead he had just fiddled about on the edges through the use of his planning powers that alone are not enough to tackle the crisis. He must take a lead and use the power of his office to ensure enough affordable homes are being built."

"This problem can only be resolved if the affordable targets are backed by increased public funding and a big effort by the Mayor to get housebuilders and local authorities around the table to work out an effective strategy. The Mayor should also be lobbying Government to ensure that sufficient resources are dedicated to tackling London's affordable housing crisis."