London house prices: Sadiq Khan under pressure as figures show construction has started on just 428 affordable homes
London mayor Sadiq Khan’s affordable housing programme is under pressure after figures showed he has started building just 428 homes in the first six months of 2017-18.
In the 2016 Autumn Statement, Khan secured £3.15bn in funding from central government to build 90,000 affordable homes.
Read more: London Assembly warns on £2.2bn funding black hole for affordable houses
However, data for the six months to the end of September 2017 shows the mayor started construction on just 428 affordable homes. The full-year target for 2017-18 is to start between 12,500 and 16,500 new homes.
Andrew Boff, housing spokesperson for the Conservatives in the London Assembly, said: “The inference of his poor performance is that now they’ve got to rush like crazy towards the end of the year.
“I think he needs to pull a lot out of the bag to get anywhere near that target.”
A spokesperson for the mayor of London said 1,641 homes had been started under the programme by the end of December 2017.
“City Hall will continue to monitor starts on site, but we remain on track to start at least 12,500 affordable homes by the end of the financial year,” the spokesperson said.
“The mayor has been clear that turning round the housing crisis won’t happen overnight, particularly as he inherited a crippling legacy of falling homebuilding and record low levels of affordable housing from Boris Johnson.”
The figures come after Assembly members raised concerns about the level of funding for affordable houses. The Greater London Authority has estimated it needs £2.7bn each year for affordable homes, but it has a budget of just £500m.