Khan distributes GLA housing funds
London mayor Sadiq Khan has announced the recipients of around half of the £3.15bn housing fund that the GLA received from the Treasury in the 2016 Autumn Statement.
Fifty-three organisations – 44 housing associations and nine councils – will share £1.7bn, enabling 50,000 affordable homes be built over the next four years.
The largest beneficiaries are the major housing associations, who have set up strategic partnerships with the GLA. Khan said these associations “are prepared to build new homes at scale and will deliver at least 60% affordable housing across their portfolio of sites”.
London mayor Sadiq Khan has announced the recipients of around half of the £3.15bn housing fund that the GLA received from the Treasury in the 2016 Autumn Statement.
Fifty-three organisations – 44 housing associations and nine councils – will share £1.7bn, enabling 50,000 affordable homes be built over the next four years.
The largest beneficiaries are the major housing associations, who have set up strategic partnerships with the GLA. Khan said these associations “are prepared to build new homes at scale and will deliver at least 60% affordable housing across their portfolio of sites”.
These major players – L&Q and Hyde were previously announced, while Peabody, Genesis, Clarion, Network, Notting Hill and Optivo were announced today – will receive nearly £1.3bn and deliver 38,500 affordable homes, the vast bulk of the total.
Of the total, 17,500 will be for rents around social levels, and just under 32,000 will be for a combination of the mayor’s new London Living Rent and shared ownership. London Living Rent is a new type of tenancy Sadiq introduced last year to help middle-income earners in the capital save for a deposit to move into shared ownership by offering them rents based on one-third of average local gross household incomes.
Housing associations are being given the flexibility to swap homes between London Living Rent and shared ownership depending on local circumstances when homes are completed.
Sites have already been identified and bought for almost half the 50,000 homes – meaning delivery can get underway immediately – with the major housing associations committing themselves to working with City Hall to bring forward land for the remaining homes allocated.
Paul Hackett, chair of the G15, which represents London’s largest housing associations, said: “The commitment from London’s housing associations is an unprecedented level of ambition to build the homes the capital needs. The partnership with the mayor is the biggest London’s housing associations have ever committed to, reflecting the urgency of the housing crisis and our strong relationship with City Hall.”
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