Boris Johnson today warned of a crisis in availability of affordable London homes unless building dramatically speeds up.
The Mayor said he is working “flat out” to keep up with demand, as he announced a £138 million fund to kick-start delivery of another 6,000 homes to rent or buy.
These are on top of the 55,000 already pledged this mayoral term. The capital is predicted to need a million more homes by 2031. Mr Johnson said: “We’ve got to accelerate the pace of building. This is a massive undertaking, we need at least 40,000 homes a year for the next 20 years to meet population demand.
“But I don’t want to sound as though that’s enough, because it’s not enough. We really need to step it up.” He warned Londoners could be condemned to long commutes, or forced to leave the capital altogether. “Without house building we’re missing the opportunity to put fuel into the most powerful motor the British economy has.”
The £138 million, which will deliver up to 12,500 jobs, has been allocated to 57 housing providers who will all begin work this mayoral term.
Mr Johnson called on the Government to look again at granting the capital a stable funding stream for housing — such as retaining its share of stamp duty — in order to negotiate longer-term agreements with developers.
In Bexley, at a First Steps development offering working Londoners more affordable properties to buy or rent, he said: “Our funding stream is full of stops and starts, making it challenging to plan ahead and get on with delivering the thousands of homes we need every year after that.”
