Mayor faces pressure to build more London homes

Labour's spokesperson for housing on the London Assembly said the responsibility lay with the previous government and private developers sitting on empty land

The mayor of London has been told to "get a handle" on the capital's housing crisis as progress on building affordable homes continued to stagnate.

Data from the Greater London Authority (GLA) shows that developers made 1,239 starts on affordable homes from April to September this year, compared with 3,991 in the last financial year.

Hina Bokhari, who leads the Liberal Democrat group on the London Assembly, said "affordable housebuilding has dropped off a cliff".

A spokesperson for Sir Sadiq Khan said he was taking "hard decisions" including "exploring development on the green belt" and said he had been backed with "a record £11.7bn government investment".

Zoë Garbett from the Green Party said building and buying more social homes was "the only way out of our housing emergency"

Earlier this year the GLA and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) agreed to lower London's target for the Affordable Homes Programme for 2021-2026 by more than a fifth.

The new target for that period is now between 17,800 and 19,000 homebuilding starts.

However, in order to still meet that target, developers would need to start on at least 11,430 affordable dwellings before March 2026.

Bokhari told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "Londoners are desperate for affordable homes – it's the number one thing most people want the mayor to deliver.

"The latest stats are even worse than anticipated and show that for all his promises and targets, the mayor hasn't got a handle on this crisis and doesn't have a clue how he's going to solve it."

'Perfect storm'

According to GLA figures:

• Four London boroughs – Richmond upon Thames, Lambeth, Hackney and Merton – have seen no affordable home starts being made at all since April.

• Ealing has seen the highest number this year, with 235, followed by Sutton with 224.

• In total, 2,904 dwellings have been completed over the first six months of the 2025-26 period. In 2024-25, the figure was 11,636, and the previous year saw 10,949 completions.

The GLA figures come just weeks after ministers struck a deal with the mayor of London to slash affordability requirements for developers.

Builders will now be promised a fast-tracked application if they agree to construct 20% of affordable housing in their plans, rather than the previous figure of 35%.

A spokesperson for Sir Sadiq said: "There is still a lot more work to do to tackle London's urgent housing crisis.

"The mayor has been clear that there is a perfect storm impacting housebuilding in London due to a combination of the disastrous legacy from the previous government, high interest rates, the rising cost of construction materials, the impact of the pandemic and ongoing consequences of Brexit.

"The mayor is working closely with the government on a bold package of new measures to accelerate the delivery of affordable homes in London."

An MHCLG spokesperson said: "We will leave no stone unturned to build the 1.5m homes this country desperately needs and restore the dream of homeownership in London and across the country.

"That's why we have recently introduced emergency measures to ramp up housebuilding in London, on top of major planning changes to get developers building and our huge £39bn investment in social and affordable housing."