The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has revealed plans to invest £250 million to buy and prepare land for 'affordable' housing developments.

In his first draft Housing Strategy for London, a number of comprehensive plans are outlined to address the capital's housing crisis;

• Starting to build 90,000 new affordable homes by 2021

• Ensuring a better deal for private renters

• Increasing the building of more genuinely 'affordable' homes;

• Supporting new housing providers including community builders; and

• Helping tackle homelessness, with a way off the street for every rough sleeper

In addition, the Mayor has set out clear housing targets for councils, including on small sites, make it quicker and easier to bring small sites to the market, and changing the way that Mayoral Community Infrastructure Levy (MCIL) is levied so SME builders can pay less up front.

Mayor Khan said: "It is shameful that a generation of young people are being priced out of the city they grew up in because of the housing crisis. I inherited a development pipeline where just 13 per cent of homes given planning permission were affordable, which is unacceptable.


"I've been honest from the start that turning things round will take time and fixing the housing crisis will be a marathon not a sprint, but my strategy sets out how we can start making a real difference to affordable housing in the city.

"From £250 million to kick-start my plans to secure more land for new and affordable homes, to a new model and fairer deal for millions of private renters, I want to help all Londoners facing the housing crisis.

"I will use my powers and resources to their fullest extent, but Government needs to play its part too by giving London the powers and resources we need to see an even greater step-change in the number of homes being built. This launch marks the start of a three-month consultation - I want as many Londoners as possible to let me know their views on how we can improve housing in London."

Welcoming the Strategy's focus on bringing forward more small sites by opening up the market to SME house builders, Director of FMB London Barry Mortimer said in order to build the 50,000 new homes London needs need, "we must urgently make much better use of the many existing small sites that are dotted all over London".

"In doing so, we will the strengthen the capacity of SME house builders to build more new homes and perhaps even attract some new SME firms into the market," he said.

"We therefore welcome strongly the Strategy's proposal for a presumption in favour of appropriate residential development on small sites, which goes further than proposed changes to national policy as laid out in the Government's Housing White Paper."

Mr Mortimer added the FMB also welcomes changes being made to the MCIL which will see small to medium sized builders pay less up front.

However, he added this progress could be undermined unless Mayor Khan protects small sites from onerous levels of developer contributions.

"National planning guidance states that planning obligations should not be sought from developments of ten units or fewer, but implementation of this policy in London is patchy at best," he continued.

"Unless the Mayor, and London Boroughs, recognise the need to minimise burdens on the very smallest developments, SME builders will continue to struggle to enter the market."

(LM)