£1bn plan to build 11,000 new London council homes

Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has agreed plans worth more than £1 billion with 26 London boroughs to build 11,000 new council homes at social rent levels over the next four years.

Warning the government that they need to do far more to fix the housing crisis across the UK, Khan launched the ‘Building Council Homes for Londoners’ programme in May, setting a target for 10,000 new homes. Now, having received overwhelming interest from boroughs, he has agreed allocations for 11,154 new council homes at social rent levels, and a further 3,570 other homes, including those for London Living Rent.

It is hoped that the agreement will see councils increase their building rates over the next four years to a total estimated at five times greater than over the previous four years.

Khan said: “London’s housing crisis is hugely complex and has been decades in the making. There is no simple fix – but council housing is the most important part of the solution. Londoners need more council homes that they can genuinely afford, and local authorities have a fundamental role to play in getting London building the homes we need for the future.

“City Hall is using money we secured from government to help councils go much further. We need at least four times the amount of money we currently get from government for new social and affordable homes, and we need far greater powers to step in and buy land for new council housing. The scale of what I have announced today shows the ambition is there in London to build a new generation of council homes – ministers now urgently need to step up and go the distance too.”

Mayor of Newham, Rokhsana Fiaz, said: “I am very happy our bid for £107 million of funding from the Mayor of London has been successful. This funding will kick-start our ambitious housing programme, which will see the construction of more than 1,000 quality homes across 40 sites in Newham started by 2022, and available at London Affordable Rent.

“Collaborative working is essential to tackle the issues which face so many people in London. I am excited about what this announcement means for Newham and to start work to build hundreds of desperately needed new homes.”