Housing is now Londoners’ main concern. The high cost of buying or renting a home in the city means that there are around 150,000 families living in over-crowded conditions, and 60,000 families living in temporary accommodation. Thousands more are unable to get on the property ladder because of property prices that are nearly double that of the rest of England and Wales.
Fundamentally, this means we have to build many more new homes, over-turning the disastrous decision of Conservative governments to virtually stop local councils building new homes.
That’s why one of Ken’s top priorities has been to increase the number of ‘affordable’ new homes – including those built for rent and for shared ownership, so that Londoners on
low incomes can still achieve a good standard of housing and, where possible, get on the first rung of the property ownership ladder.
Ken will be setting out his full programme for a new Mayoral term on these pages in the coming weeks.
New powers for the Mayor will enable Ken to build on this success and deliver an even more rapid acceleration in new, affordable homes.
If re-elected Ken willsafeguard the policy that 50 per cent of new homes should be cheaper homes to buy and homes at affordable rents; and build a minimum fifty thousand new affordable homes in the next three years.
If re-elected, Ken will build on a record of success including:
- 33,000 new homes built last year – the highest annual figure in 30 years
- Delivered three times as many affordable homes per year as when the Greater London Authority was set up in 2000
- Record numbers of new shared-ownership homes, giving first time buyers a chance to get on the property ladder.
- Supported schemes such as New Build Home-Buy, Open Market Home-Buy an First Time Buyers Initiative, to help Londoners get on the first rung of the property ladder, with interest free loans and shared ownership options