Council housing is being built in London on a scale that has not been seen for more than 40 years.
A total of 4,689 new council homes were started in London in the 2020-21 financial year, as a result of the Mayor of London’s Building Council Homes for Londoners programme.
The number of council homes started annually has increased six-fold since 2016, with only 774 started in the final year of the previous Mayoralty.
More than three-quarters (3,411) of the council homes started in London last year received funding support from the Mayor.
The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: ‘The 1970s was the last great period of municipal homebuilding before 40 years of decline saw us inherit a mere trickle of council home construction in 2016. I am proud to say that we have breathed new life into homebuilding in London with boroughs across the capital rising to the challenge of building the homes Londoners so desperately need.
‘The new standards enshrined in my London Plan will ensure council homes of the 2020s are a new generation of spacious, light, green homes that will serve generations to come. These homes will set the standard nationally when it comes to design, sustainability and safety. Thousands of Londoners will spend this Christmas in secure, affordable council homes because of what we have achieved over the last five years. We must now build on this success, empower councils and deliver the homes we need to tackle London’s housing crisis.’
Sadiq Khan announced the latest figures on a visit to Welsford Street in South Bermondsey, where City Hall has invested £1m into Southwark’s project to build 10 new family-sized council homes.
Cllr Stephanie Cryan, Cabinet Member for Council Homes and Homelessness, added: ‘We are delighted to welcome the Mayor of London back to Southwark to celebrate the latest impressive figures on new council homes in London. We are proud to showcase our new houses in Welsford Street, Bermondsey, which exemplify the high-quality standards we have in place when building council homes for our residents.
‘We know these spacious, well-designed houses with picturesque gardens will provide the ideal homes for local families to raise their children. This development is just one of many housing projects we are working on across the borough to meet our goal of providing 2,500 new council homes by May 2022.’
Photo by Giammarco