The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has hailed another record-breaking milestone for council homebuilding in London, as new statistics show 4,946 City Hall-backed
council homes were started in the 2021/22 financial year. This compares to just 3,520 council homes started in London in the entire decade before Sadiq become Mayor.
The capital has not seen council house building on this scale since the 1970s (9,128 starts in 1979). This turnaround in council building has been driven by initiatives such as the Mayor’s landmark Building Council Homes for Londoners grant funding programme, and his Homebuilding Capacity Fund, which allows boroughs to increase their ability to build after a generation of decline.
Last year, all but two councils started work on new City Hall-funded council homes. Southwark led the way with 878 starts, followed by Havering (593), Barking and Dagenham (424) and Newham (410). Bromley, Hammersmith and Fulham, Kingston upon Thames and Sutton all started building City Hall-funded council homes for the first time last year.
Under his new 2021-26 Affordable Homes Programme, the Mayor is also ensuring that new council homes built on his watch meet leading environmental standards to help tackle the climate emergency. All developments of 10 or more homes must be net zero-carbon and incorporate sustainable urban green spaces.
The new City Hall statistics only include council homes backed by City Hall, and the total is set to rise further when central government statistics are released later this year, including council homes built without Greater London Authority funding.
Today’s figures form part of the Mayor’s record-breaking genuinely affordable homes figures announced earlier this month. 18,722 genuinely affordable homes (including council homes) were started on London sites in 2021/22 (1), despite the ongoing impact of the pandemic, soaring construction costs and Brexit.
In the past year, the cost of construction materials has risen by 24.5 per cent and the double impact of Brexit and the pandemic is not only forcing up the cost of materials, but also causing workforce shortages.
Both of these issues are already having a significant impact on the delivery of much-needed new homes in the capital. 36 per cent of construction firms who responded to the ONS Business Insights survey reported inflation of goods and services as their main concern over the next month. The construction labour market also remains an issue, with 20 per cent of firms reporting a shortage of workers. (2)
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “There’s no quick fix to London’s housing crisis, but we’re taking some big steps in the right direction – breathing new life into council homebuilding in London. Every new home we build is another London family given the secure, long term home they deserve.
“I grew up on a council estate in south London so I know the vital role council homes play in providing security for families. I’m proud that we’re reversing the years of declining council homebuilding and are once again seeing these vital homes return to every corner of our city.
“But I’m determined that we continue to do all we can to build on the success of recent years, empower councils and work with all those involved in building new council homes, so we build a safer, fairer, greener and more prosperous city for all Londoners.”
Cllr Kieron Williams, Leader of Southwark Council, said: “This is a fantastic achievement for Southwark and the Mayor of London, and is the result of our hard work and our joint ambition to tackle the housing crisis facing our city. Every one of these 878 homes will transform the lives of local families for the better for decades to come.
These homes are just a part of our work to bring more and more genuinely affordable housing to Southwark. I’m delighted to say we recently achieved our target to build or start 2,500 new council homes by May this year, with thousands more to come over future years. We will continue to work with the Mayor on this vitally important challenge for our city, so together we can transform the lives of many more families.” Photo by Tiia Monto, Wikimedia commons.
References
1. https://www.london.gov.uk/press-releases/mayoral/18700-affordable-homes-started-last-year