Khan stumps up £250m to buy housing sites

London mayor Sadiq Khan has today announced plans to allocate £250m towards buying and preparing land for new and affordable housing, as part of his first draft Housing Strategy. The policy, for which money is expected to be drawn from a £250m underspend on previous affordable homes programmes, would involve selling land bought by the Greater London Authority to developers, then recycling cash to buy further land for new and affordable homes. Alongside earmarking money to secure land, the mayor said he would also be recruiting new technical “deal making” experts for his Homes for Londoners team, to identify and prepare the new sites. The mayor has also made it clear that he was prepared to use City Hall’s statutory powers, including compulsory purchase, “to their fullest extent where necessary to secure land for new and affordable homes”. Khan also set out plans to collaborate with London’s private tenants and landlords to develop plans for a new “London Model” of renting as he called on the government to help renters. He added that he wanted to use his current powers and resources to their fullest extent, but for a significant step-change in delivery, the government needed to play its part. The plan called for the government to provide a comprehensive and urgent devolution of funding and powers that recognises the scale of the housing challenge London faces. A statement from the mayor’s office said: “The new land fund will be used alongside the record £3.15bn affordable housing budget that Sadiq successfully negotiated from government, and City Hall will work with a range of home builders including councils, housing associations and commercial home builders, on housing developments.” Khan said: “It is shameful that a generation of young people is being priced out of the city they grew up in because of the housing crisis. I inherited a development pipeline where just 13% 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. To send feedback, e-mail nick.johnstone@egi.co.uk or tweet @n_johnstone or @estatesgazette