G15 and GLA report shows £4.9bn a year needed to tackle London’s affordability crisis

New analysis from the Greater London Authority, produced in partnership with the G15, has shown that £4.9bn a year of government grant funding is needed to deliver the number of affordable homes that London needs.

The research examined how much grant funding is needed to deliver the Mayor’s target of 325,000 new affordable homes over the ten years from 2022-2032. Of these, 70 per cent would be social rent (22,750 homes a year), 20 per cent shared ownership (6,500 homes), and 10 per cent intermediate rent (3,250 homes). The report shows that Government will need to fund around half of the cost of these new homes to hit this target.

Paul Hackett, chair of the G15 group of London's largest housing associations, said: "Londoners have known for years how severe the capital’s housing crisis has become, but our new joint report with the Mayor shows exactly what is needed to address the problem. Housing associations have shown great flexibility in recent years, responding to lower grant rates since 2011 by building more housing for sale to fund a pipeline of affordable homes. But London’s large associations now fund up to 85% of the cost of new homes from their own resources. With the private market slowing, this cross-subsidy model is at breaking point.

“This research shows that to build genuinely affordable homes at the scale required, the Government’s approach to funding needs to fundamentally change. We need to return to higher grant rates and agree a long-term settlement to give us the tools to keep tackling the housing crisis head-on.”