GLA plans £1bn for council homebuilding

London’s mayor Sadiq Khan has announced a £1bn plan for councils to build 14,745 new homes over the next four years. The government-funded programme will deliver 11,154 homes available on social rent levels, with the remaining to include homes available at the London Living Rent. The plan is split across 26 councils, with Newham (£107.5m), Ealing (£99.4m) and Southwark (£89.5m) receiving the largest amounts. Khan said: “City Hall is using money we secured from government to help councils go much further.” Khan warned that this month’s government announcement to scrap the council Housing Revenue Account cap “[would] not fix the housing crisis”, but he noted that council housing was “the most important part of the solution”. Khan said the capital needed an estimated £2.7bn a year to meet the demands for council, social rented and affordable housing. He added: “We need at least four times the amount of money we currently get from government for new social and affordable homes, and we need far greater powers to step in and buy land for new council housing. The scale of what I have announced today shows that the ambition is there in London to build a new generation of council homes. Ministers now urgently need to step up and go the distance too.” The GLA expects that the fund will boost council building rates by fivefold over the next four years, over the rates for the previous five years. The plan is part of City’s Hall first programme for council homebuilding, Building Council Homes for Londoners’, which launched in May. To send feedback, e-mail emma.rosser@egi.co.uk or tweet @EmmaARosser or @estatesgazette