Sadiq Khan has let Londoners down by failing to start more affordable homes prior to coronavirus after the Mayor admits he will not meet his housebuilding deadline.
In response to a question from Andrew Boff AM, the Mayor revealed he asked the government for a 12-month extension to City Hall’s March 2022 housebuilding deadline, which has now been granted. Khan was set the delivery date in return for a £4.82 billion government grant to start building 116,000 affordable homes.
Despite citing coronavirus as the reason for the delay, Khan was unlikely to meet the deadline after four years of sluggish progress. Since 2016, he has only started 51,711 (45%) homes leaving at least 57,040 (49%) homes to be started by March 2022. This number is higher than his 56,000-maximum target for housing starts in the next two years, and he has never achieved his maximum target before.
Andrew Boff AM, GLA Conservative Housing Spokesman, commented: “London needs housebuilding to be a sprint, not a marathon. The longer the Mayor fails to start these homes, the later they will be completed and ready for Londoners to move in. Sadly, Khan’s poor progress just means Londoners will be left without affordable housing for many more years.
“It’s no surprise that the Mayor has requested an extension to this crucial affordable housebuilding deadline. He has never met his maximum targets and his sluggish progress in the last four years has meant work on nearly 50% of the homes he has the money to build hasn’t yet started, with little time remaining.”
“If the Mayor had met his maximum targets in the past four years, he would have started an extra 14,000 affordable homes before this crisis hit. However, by failing to do so, he has left himself an impossible number to start building in the wake of the coronavirus crisis.”
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