London surpasses annual affordable homes target

New figures show that 13,318 genuinely-affordable homes were started in the capital last year despite the disruption and delays caused by the pandemic and Brexit.

Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has praised the hard work of councils and housing associations, with the data showing that, in the last five years under Khan, London has started to build 63 per cent more genuinely-affordable homes than were started in the final five years of the previous mayoralty.

More than 6,000 homes started in the last year will be available at social rent levels – the second highest annual figure in the last decade. The number of genuinely-affordable homes completed across London rose last year, with 9,051 affordable homes completed in 2020/21, up from 7,775 homes the year before. This is almost double the 4,881 homes completed in the last year of the previous mayoralty in 2015/16.

Affordable homebuilding is underway across London with every borough reporting new starts in the last financial year. The borough with the highest number of starts last year is Newham, with work beginning on 1,689 new affordable homes. The east London borough also had the highest number of completions last year with 1,275 affordable homes being finished.

Khan said: “London’s housing crisis remains one of the greatest barriers to addressing the inequality we face in our city, and a key priority for my second term will be doing all we can to overcome it. Today’s figures show what councils, housing associations and the wider London housing sector have been able to achieve despite the instability and uncertainty created by Brexit and the pandemic. They also underline the huge progress made since I became Mayor, when just three homes for social rent were left in the pipeline by my predecessor.

“Despite exceeding my annual targets and starting record numbers of affordable homes for Londoners, there is still a mountain to climb – we need to go further, faster. I am determined to build on the record-breaking delivery of genuinely-affordable homes in my first term as Mayor to secure a brighter future for our city.”