The Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has met the target of starting 116,000 affordable homes by March of this year, The London Assembly Committee has announced.
So far 55,000 affordable homes have been completed, while the remaining 62,000 are set to be delivered by 2029.
The funding to develop the homes came from the Affordable Homes Programme, running from 2016 to 2023 with a £4.82 billion government grant.
Sem Moema, Labour’s London Assembly housing spokesman, said: “Housing is the biggest challenge facing Londoners – with many struggling with sky-high rent and spiralling mortgage payments. This latest data shows that London is leading the way with affordable house-building with more than 55,000 completed.
“The Mayor has met his target of 116,000 homes getting started by March 2023 – despite the costs of materials and labour and pressures following the pandemic.
“But we know more must be done. While the Mayor of London is doing what he can, the national government must come to the table and properly invest in affordable housing, abolish section 21 ‘no fault’ evictions, and uprate local housing allowance rates so that we can end homelessness for good.
“On top of this, they should seriously consider the Mayor’s demand to be given the power to freeze rents to stop this catastrophe from getting even worse.”
In 2021 Sadiq Khan committed to starting a further 35,000 homes between 2021 and 2026, funded by a further £4bn government grant, under the Affordable Homes Programme 2021-26.
However these homes have not yet been started, and delays to the programme combined with changing market conditions contributed to the original targets becoming untenable, the London Assembly said.