According to figures from City Hall, just 347 new affordable homes have been started in London in three months since April.

Bodge the builder?: London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan is in danger of missing his own housebuilding target

Inside Housing reports the figures from the Greater London Authority which also show that 312 of the homes were started under its Affordable Homes Programme, a five-year plan that ends in 2026, with London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan some 12,000 homes short of his own target.

The housing website reports that of the build starts so far this year, four were started under the Single Homelessness Accommodation Programme and 31 homes were started under other projects.

“A total of 120 homes (35%) were for social rent, while 85 (24%) were for affordable rent, plus 84 for London Living Rent and 58 for shared ownership,” Inside Housing reports.

Last year, 3,991 affordable homes were started in London, compared to 2,358 starts in 2023-2024, but it was “still the second-lowest on record and a drastic fall from the 25,658 in 2022-2023”.

Robert Colvile, a director at the Tufton Street thinktank the Centre for Policy Studies, said: “We are on pace to have the worst three years of affordable housing delivery in London since records began – thousands and thousands of homes off the Mayor’s target despite the billions handed to him by central government.

“This is an absolute disgrace.”

Earlier this year, the starts target for the GLA’s overall 2021-2026 Affordable Homes Programme was reduced to a range of 17,800 to 19,000, from 23,900 to 27,100.

That means that London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan is more than 12,000 short of his target, with time running out, according to figures from the London Assembly’s annual affordable housing monitor.

In May, Mayor Khan began a consultation on the next London Plan, which sets housing targets in the capital for the next five years. This includes the possibility of redrawing London’s Green Belt to unlock land for 1million new homes over the next decade.

Falling affordable housebuilding in London has been blamed on a number of factors, including rising construction costs and low grant rates from central government since 2010.

At the Spending Review in June, the Labour government committed to a new £39billion, 10-year Affordable Homes Programme, with around 30% of this money going to London.

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