Lord Bailey of Paddington AM
Londonwide Assembly Member
Rt Hon Angela Rayner MP
Deputy Prime Minister Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government House of Commons
Our Ref: SB/MRD/AW Date: 13 August 2024
Dear Deputy Prime Minister, I wanted to begin by congratulating you on your appointment as Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
I am writing on behalf of Londoners regarding concerns shared by many on the Mayor of London’s inability
to deliver new affordable homes. Since taking office, you have been absolutely clear that it is your priority as Secretary of State and Deputy Prime Minister to increase the number of homes built across the country. You will be well aware that our capital city faces a severe housing shortage. As a result, many families and individuals are unable to find a home, rental prices remain extremely high, and the prospect of buying is an impossible dream for many. A genuine commitment to tackle this is something I welcome and support wholeheartedly, despite our party differences. The previous government recognised this challenge and provided the Mayor with nearly £9 billion in total, to fund the delivery of up to 143,000 homes in the capital.
In a blog post published by your own department last month, however, you acknowledged that “
recent [housing] delivery in London has fallen well short of what is needed
” and that you would work with the Mayor and the Greater London Authority (GLA) to “
turn this around
”.
Through the 2021-26 Affordable Housing Programme, Sadiq Khan needs to deliver in the region of 25,000 homes in the next two years to meet his own targets
–
approximately 3000 affordable homes a quarter. Today (13 August) the GLA published data for the last quarter. It reveals the Mayor of London started just 150 affordable homes and has only completed 71
–
across the whole of the capital. These numbers are clearly unacceptably low, and are inconsistent with the housebuilding ambitions of both your department and the manifesto on which the Labour government was elected on last month.
Over the last eight years, the Mayor of London has consistently demonstrated that he is unable to meet the
scale of London’s housing challenges, with the number of new homes built in the capital falling to record lows under Sadiq Khan’s leadership.
We are, therefore, urging you to use your powers as Secretary of State to place the Mayor of London and the GLA in special measures. Without tailored support and additional oversight from your department, sadly it is abundantly clear that Sadiq Khan will not be able to deliver the number of homes London requires, and that targets alone are no longer enough to tackle the scale of the problem. Given how significant this is for so many people, I genuinely hope that we are able to put political differences aside and give Londoners the best possible chance of having a home of their own. I look forward to receiving your response.
Yours sincerely,