Building of affordable housing in London declines

According to the London Assembly, there have never been enough affordable homes built in the capital.

Building of affordable housing in London declines

The building of affordable housing in London has declined by as much as 62% in some London boroughs this decade, analysis by property developer Southern Grove has revealed.

Half of all London boroughs have seen rates of new building decline with six London local authorities, including the City of London, seeing new supply of affordable homes fall by more than a third when compared to the 1990s.

Hammersmith & Fulham and Redbridge were the worst performing boroughs, with the number of new affordable homes created between 2010/11 and 2018/19 falling by 61.6% on a like-for-like basis.

The City of London saw the steepest fall in new affordable homes of any London local authority recording a 64.1% drop.

As the 2010s draw to a close, the overall supply of new affordable housing has reportedly not improved across the capital in the past decade.

Rates have fallen by 1.2% according to the latest government figures released by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

According to the London Assembly, there have never been enough affordable homes built in the capital.

It estimates that 43,000 new affordable homes are needed each year up to 2041 to meet the demand.

Andrew Southern, chairman of Southern Grove, said: “Years of abysmal house building rates have left London with an enormous black hole in its provision of affordable homes.

“There is the political will to build more affordable homes but, as these figures show, this is still not translating into enough completed properties for people to live in.

“In London, the only way to generate the affordable housing stock required is to build higher.

"This can still truly involve excellent design at key locations over the capital’s transport nodes but planners need to meet developers half way to ensure there can be some real action.”