Lambeth given £55 million grant to provide low-cost housing

Lambeth Council will receive a £55 million grant from City Hall to help tackle the current housing crisis.

Lambeth Council will receive £54,720,000 to provide 912 affordable houses, while the borough will collectively spend a total of £74,640,000 funding 1,448 homes.

An estimated £1.7 billion will be invested in 49,398 affordable homes being built, with new homes in all 32 boroughs and the City of London delivered by 44 housing providers.

The Council will receive the money as part of a ‘ground-breaking deal’ between the Mayor of London and councils and housing associations to start building an extra 50,000 affordable homes to rent and buy over the next four years.

The money will be used to boost the number of homes built under the estate regeneration programme. This will mean more homes for those on the council’s housing list.

The approval for Lambeth’s bid is a ‘significant endorsement’ of the council’s strategy for helping families and individuals on lower incomes secure homes in the borough, the Council says.

Paul McGlone, deputy leader of the Council, said: “For too many people in Lambeth and across London, housing costs are becoming increasingly unaffordable. The Mayor of London and Lambeth council have shown real commitment to tackling this problem and providing affordable housing for our residents.

“This funding is a key step forward in that ambition and will help provide over 900 new affordable homes for people in Lambeth. Across the borough, we are investing in innovative schemes like this one, as well as ensuring that developers provide the right levels of affordable housing, and building 1,000 new homes at council level rent for families on the waiting list.”

Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, said: “I want to see everyone playing their part in tackling the housing crisis in London, because it is simply unacceptable that Londoners continue to be priced out of a city they call home.

“We know that solving the housing crisis is not going to happen overnight, but I very much welcome so many housing associations and councils matching my ambition by committing to build the new and genuinely affordable homes Londoners so desperately need.

“I am delighted that we have set a City Hall record for the number of homes allocated funding – but I am clear that we have got much more to do to secure the land we need to build homes and ensure we have sufficient capacity in the construction industry.”