The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has today announced that more than 8000 new homes have been started via his Land Fund – five years ahead of schedule.
The pioneering Land Fund was established by Sadiq Khan in 2017 to be more direct and interventionist in tackling London’s housing crisis following a failure over recent decades to build the homes London needs.
Its innovative approach provides flexibility for City Hall to provide financing for projects, which includes buying land for developers and partners, to unlock significantly more homebuilding opportunities in London at far greater speed than before.
Image: Mitre Yard - Make Architects
The Fund, which comprises of over £736 million and includes £486m provided from the Ministry of Housing Communities and Local Government, is also unconstrained in the type of investment it provides (e.g. debt or equity) and gives a broad range of support investment opportunities alongside commercial partners.
Examples of the Fund’s impact include providing land acquisition finance to help Peabody Trust deliver nearly 1,000 homes on the former Holloway Prison site in Islington, acquiring surplus land on hospital sites capable of delivering up to 1,000 homes across Enfield and Haringey, and supporting City & Docklands with mezzanine finance for build-to-rent homes at Mitre Yard in the Old Oak & Park Royal opportunity area.
Sadiq has also confirmed today that - despite a difficult operating environment nationally for housing delivery partners - last year saw London complete just over 11,600 homes, which is the second highest number of completions since 2015/16. Of these homes, nearly 6,700 are affordable homes for social rent and equivalent – the highest level since he took office in 2016.
Today’s announcement builds on the Mayor’s strong housing record, which includes completing more new homes than any time since the 1930s prior to the pandemic and starting more new council homes than any time since the 1970s.
However, the huge scale of London’s housing crisis remains significant, and London still needs 88,000 new homes a year over the next decade to meet demand – close to a million homes. The capital has never built this number of homes before, and earlier this year the Mayor announced that City Hall will actively explore releasing parts of London’s green belt to help end the housing crisis.
The UK Government has announced its national ambition to get Britain building again, and recent analysis shows the economy could be boosted by up to £7.5 billion over the next decade thanks to the pro-growth Planning and Infrastructure Bill. This aligns with Sadiq’s record and ambitions as he has committed to working with London’s boroughs to build 40,000 new council homes by 2030 and delivering thousands of new, genuinely affordable homes for Londoners, in addition to his new plans to explore releasing parts of London’s green belt to help end the housing crisis.
Last month, the Mayor welcomed a package of changes announced by the Government - including the biggest and longest funding settlement that the capital has ever received for affordable and social housebuilding, and backing for a new City Hall Developer Investment Fund to build on the Land Fund’s record - as a huge win for all Londoners. London will receive up to £11.7 billion over the next ten years (30 per cent of the Government’s £39 billion Social and Affordable Homes Programme) to support social and affordable housebuilding.
Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “The innovative Land Fund has enabled us to tackle the housing crisis head on, starting more than 8,000 new homes five years ahead of schedule. I am proud that nearly 6,700 affordable homes at social rent levels were completed last year, which is the highest in a decade.
“But we know there is more work to do to fix the housing crisis in London. I’m pleased that the Government has committed to work with me to establish the City Hall Developer Investment Fund to unlock further housing in London. I will continue to work closely with them to secure even more national support to help build the level of new housing London needs, as we build a better, fairer London for everyone.”
Deputy Prime Minister and Housing Secretary, Angela Rayner, said: “We’re facing a housing crisis which has stopped our young people from achieving the dream of homeownership, especially in London where there is a real demand to build the affordable homes we need.
“That’s why we welcome the Mayor of London pushing ahead to build these homes, and we will continue to work hand-in-hand with him to deliver on our stretching target of 1.5 million homes through our Plan for Change.”
Partnerships, Planning, Communities and Sustainability Director at Mount Anvil, Marcus Bate, said: “Mount Anvil were delighted to be one of the first of the very few private sector developers to be awarded Investment Partner status by the Greater London Authority in 2020 – backing our capability to deliver homes for Londoners in partnership with housing associations and local authorities, and boosting our capacity to take on the estate transformation work that we see as so key to solving the capital's housing crisis.
“The GLA's support has enabled us to increase our housing delivery in central London and to accelerate our purchase of new sites. We’ve already delivered 125 per cent of the homes that we committed to at the start of our partnership. This year we’ll complete 1,100 homes and start more than 3,000 homes. This shows the power of partnership and creativity in finding dynamic ways to continue to deliver at pace when many are stalling.”
