Welcoming the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan to the new Royal Eden Docks development in Newham this morning, Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE said:
“In Newham we are at the sharp end of London’s housing crisis with 37,000 people on our waiting list for Council homes and 7,000 households placed in temporary accommodation. Thousands more are facing the real threat of homelessness because of rising rents, exacerbating their experience in this crippling Cost of Living crisis. Demand for genuinely affordable homes is far outstripping supply.
“Since I became the Mayor of Newham back in May 2018, we’ve started 1,775 London Affordable Rent social homes – all supported by the Mayor of London. That’s the second-highest number of genuinely affordable homes started by any London borough since Sadiq’s first election in 2016. And there’s another 1,500 planned or already in the pipeline.
“We are bringing forward some of London's most ambitious estate regeneration schemes like the Carpenters Estate and in Custom House.
“Together with the Mayor of London, we are unlocking much-needed investment in our communities to give them hope as part of our promise of a fairer future. We are spending millions of pounds to retrofit thousands of Council homes as part of our Climate Action agenda, homes that are well designed, decent and genuinely affordable. Homes where Londoners are given hope to progress with their futures.
“The Mayor is funding innovative partnerships between Councils, Housing Associations and developers to build high quality, sustainable homes that don’t cost an arm and a leg, but instead brings hope to thousands and thousands.”
In his speech at this morning’s event Mayor Sadiq Khan said: “London’s housing crisis is clearly a brake on growth and a barrier to Londoners fulfilling their potential. And fixing it is key to safeguarding the soul of our city.
“The housing crisis is turbo-charging inequalities in wealth, health and happiness. It’s making our city less meritocratic and more divided. As Mayor, I don’t want to see London become a playground for the rich – I’m determined to build a London for everyone.
“I’m proud to say: London is building again. In recent years, we’ve completed more homes of all types than at any time since the 1930s. While the Government has shamefully scrapped its own home-building targets, we’re busy meeting ours. In London, not only have we hit our target of starting 116,000 new genuinely affordable homes, we’ve exceeded it.
“I’ve always been honest with Londoners – that the housing crisis was decades in the making and it will take time to fix. It will be a marathon, not a sprint. But, thanks to the exercise of concerted political will, we’re moving in the right direction.”
But both Mayor’s recognise more needs to be done by central government to tackle the crisis – with analysis from City Hall and Savills showing that London needs £4.9 billion invested to deliver the 130,000 affordable homes urgently needed between now and 2027-8.
