The number of affordable homes being built in London has plummeted to the lowest level since Sadiq Khan became mayor eight years ago.
Only 2,358 homes were started with City Hall funding in 2023-24 – with 10 of the capital’s 33 boroughs not getting out of single figures.
According to the London Assembly’s definitive annual housing monitor, only one affordable home was started in each of the boroughs of Bexley, Harrow, Richmond and the City of London over the 12-month period.
There were two starts in Kensington and Chelsea, three in Brent, Enfield and Lambeth, four in Newham and five in Croydon.
The cross-party assembly warned the capital had an “acute need” for affordable housing, with 65,280 Londoners living in temporary accommodation and 323,637 on council waiting lists.
London needs almost 43,000 affordable homes a year until 2041 to address the scale of demand.
In return for £4bn of Government funds, Mr Khan must start between 23,900 and 27,100 homes by March 2026. All must be completed by March 2030.
However, by this March, only 1,777 homes had been started. There were also 581 starts “left over” from the mayor’s previous housing deal – making a total of 2,358.
This compares starkly with a record 25,658 affordable homes that were started in London in 2022/23.
It means that more than 90 per cent of the homes the mayor has promised to build by 2026 have to be started in the next two years.
The boroughs with the highest number of starts were Greenwich and Redbridge at 383 and 351 respectively. These areas, plus Tower Hamlets and Lewisham as the next two highest, accounted for almost half of starts across the capital.
Last year Mr Khan hit a previous target of starting 116,000 affordable homes between 2016-23, with £4.8bn of Government cash.
To date, 56 per cent (65,370) have been completed. The remainder are not expected to be able to be occupied until the end of the decade.
The dramatic fall in affordable housing stats is blamed on “severely challenging market conditions” and a delay by the previous Government in releasing funding, which led to delays in contracts being signed with developers.
Recent high inflation and high build costs due to supply issues linked to the war in Ukraine are also blamed.
Sem Moema, Labour chair of the assembly housing committee, said: “London urgently needs more affordable housing and the additional challenges the Greater London Authority has faced in delivering on its targets in the past year has made that need all the more acute.”
She said the report did find some good news, such as more than 10,000 completions of homes started in the 2016-23 programme.
She added: “But there are clear challenges too. The amount of affordable housing being built for Londoners is still far below what is needed. It is vital that the mayor continues to work closely with the new Government, local councils and others in the sector to deliver more of the affordable homes that London needs.”
A spokesperson for Mr Khan said: “The Mayor has hit every Affordable Homes Programme target he has been set, including the landmark target of building 116,000 new genuinely affordable homes in the capital through the last Affordable Homes Programme. The latest figures show that City Hall-funded affordable housing completions have doubled since Sadiq became Mayor.
“Sadiq has consistently warned that failures by the previous government, including significant delays to releasing funding for the latest Affordable Homes Programme, have exacerbated the major challenges facing housebuilders, which include high construction costs, increased borrowing costs and the need to address building safety issues.
“Sadiq is determined to build the genuinely affordable homes that London needs and is already working hand-in-hand with the new pro-homebuilding government to ensure London’s affordable housing delivery target is met, helping to build a fairer London for all.”
