More housing and planning powers, and control over new budgets and land assets, provide the Mayor with a unique opportunity to provide more affordable homes for Londoners if he gets his approach right.
The Assembly’s Planning and Housing Committee today welcomes many of the Mayor’s proposals in its response to the revision of his housing strategy, and makes a number of recommendations of its own that it would like to see the Mayor adopt.
The Committee believes it may be possible for the Mayor deliver a greater number of family sized homes through the affordable rent model than the 36 per cent he has committed to, and urges him to reassess how he might do this and elaborate on his proposals to deliver larger homes while keeping rents low.
This could include offering land assets he has control over – including the Greater London Authority’s landholdings – at a discount, or using incentives to make building larger homes more financially viable for developers.
The Committee would like the Mayor to publish more details of the size, type of tenure and location of the 13,635 new affordable homes he intends to deliver over the next four years. He should also report his progress in terms of how many people were taken out of housing need, instead of just how many units were built.
Jenny Jones AM, Chair of the Planning and Housing Committee, said:
"The Mayor now has more control than ever over providing the new homes London so desperately needs.
"Many of the Mayor’s proposals are welcome and reflect the Committee’s own work on issues like overcrowding and the affordable rent model. However, there are areas he must address if he is to truly make the most of his new powers and funding."
The Committee supports the Mayor’s proposals to address overcrowding and his plans to ensure new housing developments contain a good housing mix to reduce concentrations of particular tenures.
The Mayor is urged to open the meetings and agenda papers of the London Housing Board to Assembly scrutiny to provide more accountability and transparency in relation to his decisions.
The Committee’s response also makes a number of suggestions around keeping tight control over contracts with housing providers; promoting Community Land Trusts; improving energy efficiency and design standards; enhancing mobility and choice; bringing empty homes back into use; making allocations policies more flexible; reducing the amount of people housed in temporary accommodation; and tackling rough sleeping.
Read the Planning and Housing Committee’s response in full.
Notes for editors:
1. Read the Planning and Housing Committee’s response to the Mayor’s consultation on proposals for a revised housing strategy in full.
2. The Committee’s response is based on its meeting with Richard Blakeway on 8 September as well as the relevant parts of its recent reports The implications of the affordable rent model in London and Crowded houses: overcrowding in London’s social rented housing. The Committee is also in the final stages of drafting its report of its review of London’s private sector housing as well as its review into service charges.
3. The following people appeared before the Committee at public hearings: Rod Cahill, Chief Executive, Catalyst Housing Group; Richard Donnell, Director of Research, Hometrack; David Montague, Chief Executive, London and Quadrant; and Professor Steve Wilcox, University of York appeared on 29 March 2011. View the transcript of the meeting. Steve Howlett, Chief Executive, Peabody and Chair of the G15 group and Alan Benson, Head of Housing, GLA appeared on 5 April 2011. View the transcript of the meeting.
4. See the Mayor’s current Housing Strategy and more on Mayoral housing initiatives.
5. Jenny Jones AM, Chair of the Planning and Housing Committee, is available for interview.
6. As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.