London boroughs to get individual affordable housing targets

London boroughs will be given their own affordable housing targets under plans unveiled by Mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan.

The current city-wide affordable housing threshold is to be replaced with borough-specific goals in March 2028, with more than a third of London's councils expected to keep a 35% target.

Others would be set lower thresholds of 20% or 25%, depending on local circumstances.

It comes less than a year after the government and the mayor agreed to drop the target for the amount of affordable housing for new developments in London from 35% to 20% as an "emergency measure".

City Hall says it will "maximise the number of affordable homes being built during this difficult period", as the capital continues to fall behind its affordable homes targets.

Lord Bailey, City Hall Conservatives (CHC) housing spokesperson, said: "The Mayor has spectacularly failed to deliver the homes he promised Londoners... Sadiq Khan and his Deputy Mayor are laying the groundwork to blame borough councils for their own failures."

Under the latest proposals, the affordable housing threshold would be 35% in Wandsworth, Lambeth, Southwark, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kensington and Chelsea, Westminster, Camden, Islington, Hackney, Tower Hamlets, the City of London and Richmond upon Thames.

It would be 25% in Merton, Lewisham, Greenwich, Newham, Waltham Forest, Haringey, Brent and Ealing, and 20% in the remaining boroughs.

London's affordable homes targets have been subject to much change - and much debate - in the past few years.

In June, BBC London revealed that three London councils had launched a legal challenge against the mayor of London over his decision to adopt a policy which includes reducing affordable housing targets in the capital.

Speaking to the BBC at the time, Tower Hamlets Council's mayor Lutfur Rahman said he would prefer a borough-by-borough approach rather than a uniform 20% target across London.

He said affordable housing targets in Tower Hamlets remained viable, claiming that no developers had withdrawn from schemes because of the borough's requirements.

Rahman has also said councils should "stick to their guns" on housing targets, adding that developers valued "certainty and clarity" in the planning system.

In response to the new plans, Rahman said whilst the plans recognise the benefits of allowing councils to set "ambitious affordable housing targets that reflect local circumstances these proposals do not go far enough".

He added: "Without any clear justification, City Hall would still press ahead with its devastating 'emergency measures' until 2028.

"That would mean losing thousands of affordable homes over the next two years."

Florence Payne, whose two-year-old daughter was an infant when they started living in temporary accommodation, said she hoped they would one day be offered a social home.

"I think they need to stick to housing targets, build the homes they say they will, and stop changing their mind," she said.

"Parents with children are left not knowing whether they'll get a home or remain stuck in temporary accommodation.

"They make promises and then take them back. Every day you're hoping for a phone call to say you've got a social home, but you're left waiting without any certainty."

Tom Copley, deputy mayor for housing and residential development, said: "Due to economic circumstances beyond our control, including the impact of Brexit and the disastrous legacy of the previous government, it is less economically viable to deliver housing through the current approach, which was set nearly a decade ago against a backdrop of much more favourable economic conditions.

"We are working hard with the government to accelerate housebuilding, by using the mayor's planning powers, tackling the building safety regulator backlog, and investing in crucial transport infrastructure like the Docklands Light Railway extension to Thamesmead."

But this comes against a backdrop of imminent change. Andy Burnham is set to become the UK's prime minister next week, after the vast majority of Labour MPs nominated him to replace Sir Keir Starmer as Labour leader.

Burnham has promised the biggest council house-building programme "since the post-war period" - implying a large rise in rates of construction compared to recent years. However, he is yet to offer details of how this would be funded.

The pledge would be all the more challenging to meet given that Burnham has promised to stick to the government's debt and spending rules.

He has also called for the entire 10-year £39bn affordable housing budget for England to go towards homes for social rent, the cheapest and most heavily subsidised form of publicly funded housing.

So could we soon see yet more shakeup to affordable home delivery?

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