In a bid to invigorate housebuilding in London amid concerning drops in output, Steve Reed and will soon announce measures reduce affordable housing targets for developers.
The Housing Secretary and the London Mayor are negotiating details about the measures, which are expected to come into effect over the coming weeks.
Designed to unlock housebuilding in the capital amid developers struggling with financial viability of developments, the measures are described as “a time-limited intervention designed to stall the sudden drop in new building in the capital” and will include a reduction from 35% to 20% in the amount of social housing required for a development to be fast tracked.
However, whilst the plans have been met with relief from developers, there are concerns that the changes will do little to help those most in need.
Mairi MacRae, director of campaigns and policy at Shelter, said: “Plans to slash targets on affordable housing in London will allow profit-driven developers to continue looking after their bottom line at the expense of 97,000 children who are growing up homeless in the capital.
“The government must urgently reverse these plans.”
Others have voiced concern over the lack of vision in this approach. Olga McMurdo, founder of Most Architecture, told Architects Journal: “Small-scale policy tweaks, such as slightly lowering affordable housing quotas, cannot fix a system this broken.
“[The] government must invest long-term, revive council housing and empower small builders to restore a balanced, productive housing market.
“Real change demands that housing be treated as a long-term public investment.”
Whilst the need for a boost in housebuilding in the capital is urgent, we have heard time and time again about the importance of building the right kind of homes, instead of focusing simply on volume. Whilst these measures may well encourage activity from developers, they will do little to help those on low incomes, or those making up the dystopian-ly long waiting lists for social housing.
READ MORE: Waiting lists for family-sized social homes top 100 years – Housing Executive
Kate Henderson, the chief executive of the National Housing Federation, said: “Whilst we recognise the unique challenges to development faced in London, it is essential that we do not water down our affordable housing ambitions.”
Concerns are also rife that developers will now seek to renegotiate affordable housing rates within already greenlit developments, resulting in an all over drop in affordable housing.
The government claim that the measures are only temporary and especially necessary to recharge housebuilding in London, insisting that 20% of something is better than 35% of nothing. Whilst urgency is needed to tackle the severe drop off in housing delivery, what London and the country needs most direly is more affordable and social homes, as more and more people find themselves being priced out of the housing sector.
READ MORE: One-bed flats unaffordable for new nurses in almost half of England – Housing Executive
