Sadiq Khan is yet to meet half of his 2023 housing target
Sadiq Khan has started less than half of the affordable houses he promised to build by 2023, new figures have revealed.
Khan was given £4.82bn in 2016 by central government to build 116,000 affordable homes by 2022, however figures from the Greater London Authority show City Hall has only begun 56,239 as of December.
The 2022 target date was extended to 2023 last year due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The figures showed City Hall began building 3,262 affordable homes from April to December 2020.
In March 2019 to April 2020, Khan’s programme started building 13,523 affordable homes – a one-year record for City Hall.
Tory mayoral candidate Shaun Bailey hit out at Khan for being so far away from his 2023 target.
“Sadiq Khan has been vocal about setting targets for building affordable homes,” he said.
“He has been less vocal about the fact that he’s failed to meet any of them.”
Khan has said in the past that City Hall needed a seven-fold increase in funding to £4.9bn-a-year to build the amount of affordable homes the capital needs.
This would equate to more than 60,000 homes a year.
A spokesperson for Khan said: “Despite the significant impact of Covid-19, City Hall is still on track to start more than 10,300 homes through our affordable homes programme this year.
“Sadiq has hit every one of his annual delivery targets agreed with the Government and last year started the most new genuinely affordable homes in London since Greater London Authority records began in 2003.
“Under Sadiq there has been a step change in the delivery of genuinely affordable homes in London. This includes more new council homes started last year than in any year since 1983.”