The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has smashed his council homebuilding target, with figures out today showing more than 23,000 new City Hall-funded council homes

have been started since 2018. Sadiq has overseen a renaissance in council house building, with more council homes started in London last year (2022/23) than any year since the 1970s . This means London has started more than double the number of council houses started in the rest of England in the previous year, and more than ten times the delivery of the previous Mayor in his final year in office when work started on just 774 council homes across London.

Having hit his previous target to build 10,000 council homes in March 2022, Sadiq doubled his council housebuilding target, pledging to start 20,000 council homes by 2024. Thanks to a dramatic acceleration in action and ambition by both City Hall and boroughs, this target has now been hit a year early. This is the equivalent of 13 new council homes being started every day over the last five years.

The lack of building outside London is a direct result of the lack of central Government support, so Sadiq is now calling on Ministers to show the same scale of ambition as London, by backing a new funding programme exclusively for council homes. City Hall analysis of the latest data reveals that if the rest of England was building council housing at the same rate per head of population as London, it would mean 65,000 new council homes nationwide. Instead, latest data shows that only 4,325 council homes were started in the rest of England in 2021/22 (the latest year for which figures are available). [1]

The Mayor’s commitment to unlocking funds for council homebuilding has helped ambitious councils grow their capacity and expertise to deliver at scale for the first time in a generation. Over 10,000 of the council homes started in London in 2022/23 received funding support from the Mayor and all London boroughs recorded the delivery of new council homes with GLA funding in 2022.

This turnaround in council building has been driven by signature Mayoral initiatives such as Sadiq’s £1bn Building Council Homes for Londoners grant funding programme, his £10m Homebuilding Capacity Fund, and his Right to Buy-back programme, all of which have supported boroughs to turbo-charge delivery after decades of decline.

The Mayor is determined to focus on quality as well as quantity by ensuring that London’s new generation of council homes are the best ever built and has set ground-breaking new requirements as part of his new Affordable Homes Programme on design and environmental standards, with tough net-zero carbon requirements and the incorporation of sustainable urban green spaces.

Sadiq announced the latest figures on a visit to the Stonebridge Hillside and Milton Avenue scheme in Brent. The development is made up of 22 four-bedroom town houses with private gardens and storage sheds, and 51 flats, all of which will be let at social rent levels. The development includes energy saving design measures and as well as a commercial space which will become a community centre. The final landscaping and an accessible play park will be complete by June 2023.

Since April 2016, Brent Council has started around 2,000 affordable homes with a total allocation of £138m from the Mayor’s affordable housing programmes.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said: “Growing up in Tooting, a council house gave me the very best possible start in life.

“There’s no quick fix to London’s current housing crisis, but I’m hugely proud at the progress we’re making delivering a new era in council homebuilding in the capital. We’ve hit our ambitious target early, with more than 23,000 City-Hall funded council homes started since 2018. This is the highest number since the 1970s, and a key part of my plans to build a better, fairer London for everyone.

“The fact that latest available figures show that only 4,325 council homes were started over a year in the rest of England is a national scandal. Council house building has essentially come to a halt, which is why I’m calling on ministers to urgently set up a new Government fund exclusively committed to funding new council homes across the country.”

Councillor Muhammed Butt, Leader of Brent Council, said: “Brent provided more homes than any other council in the country last year and is also proudly the highest social housing builder in London.

"A safe and secure home is the foundation for people to build their lives upon, and we know three and four-bedroom homes are most in demand.

"That is why we are delighted to hand over an entire street of 22 four-bedroom council homes and 51 one, two and three-bedroom flats, all at social rent, to Brent families in Stonebridge.

"This will change the lives of more than 70 families for the better and brings us a huge step closer to achieving our ambitious target of 1,700 homes by 2028 as we strive to create a fairer, more equal Brent for all."

Steve Leakey, Managing Director for Higgins Partnerships said: “We are proud to have worked in partnership with Brent Council to deliver these much needed council homes which will benefit the local community.

“We are committed to building strong, safer and more sustainable communities and work collaboratively with our partners to ensure they are accessible to all. As well as these much needed new homes, we also provide education, training and employment opportunities for the local community which creates impact and leaves a lasting legacy. As part of this development, we created 10 apprenticeships, including a focus on disadvantaged groups. We also established a partnership with Jason Roberts Foundation and Brent Council to provide a programme of support to young people including mentoring, life skills, education, and training projects within its wider sports activities.” Photo by Chabad Lubavitch, Wikimedia commons.

Notes

• Housing starts are the nationally accepted measure for homebuilding, used by both national and local Government.

[1] In London in 2022/23, more than 10,000 City Hall-backed council homes were started. This compares to 4,325 council starts in the rest of England in 2021/22 – the latest year for which national annual figures are available.  

 Stats available here https://www.gov.uk/government/statistical-data-sets/live-tables-on-affordable-housing-supply

 More information about the Building Council Homes for Londoners programme can be found here: https://www.london.gov.uk/programmes-strategies/housing-and-land/increasing-housing-supply/building-council-homes-londoners