A Lords committee said barriers to housebuilding must be removed urgently (Gareth Fuller/PA)
(Picture: PA Archive)The rising cost of building materials and worker shortages in the construction sector as a result of Brexit are slowing down the delivery of affordable housing in London, Sadiq Khan has said.
City Hall was granted £3.46 billion through the Government’s Affordable Homes Programme in autumn last year to deliver around 30,000 new affordable homes between 2021 and 2026.
That programme will run alongside the 2016-2023 programme, which was extended due to the Covid-19 pandemic and will see a total of 116,000 homes started through £4.8 billion of Government funding.
But in November last year, the Mayor of London said that there was “no way” he could address London’s housing crisis and meet the demand for affordable housing “unless the Government gives us support”.
The most recent City Hall figures show that just 1,673 affordable homes were started between April and September 2021, with more than 40,000 homes still yet to be started under City Hall’s 2016-2023 programme.
On Friday, Sadiq Khan said that the “twin effects of the pandemic and Brexit” have hampered the Greater London Authority’s housebuilding efforts as he called for the Government to provide a greater level of funding to reflect the current situation.
Mr Khan said: “Put simply, materials and labour are needed to build homes. Earlier this month, I called on the Government to create a temporary visa scheme for construction workers, which would go some way towards alleviating the debilitating double impact of Brexit and the pandemic on the building industry.
“I am also calling on ministers to provide the increased funding for genuinely affordable housing in London that I have long called for and which is needed now more than ever. Without bricks and mortar, and enough skilled workers, the excellent progress we have made in delivering the good quality and genuinely affordable homes that Londoners need is at risk of stalling.”
Figures highlighted by the Mayor of London on Friday show that the cost of construction materials for new housing rose by 21 per cent last year with inflation reaching a 40-year high, while a survey by the Federation of Master Builders found that 74 per cent of builders have increased their prices as a result.
Earlier this month, Sadiq Khan called on the Government to introduce a temporary visa scheme to tackle widespread labour shortages in the industry after official figures revealed that the number of EU-born builders in London had fallen by 54 per cent in the three years to April 2020.
Mr Khan said that the Government must “look beyond their current blinkered approach to immigration” and that “we need skilled tradespeople on site now to manage the short-term crisis and build a strong recovery”.
