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Mayor announces innovative new programme enabling
councils to purchase homes from private market
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Announcement follows the success of the Mayor’s
flagship Right to Buy Back programme which saw over 1,200 homes
brought into council ownership
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New programme will help councils deal with the
ballooning temporary accommodation crisis and contribute to an
ambitious new goal of purchasing at least 10,000 extra City
Hall-funded council homes over the next 10 years
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Over 170,000 Londoners are currently living in
insecure temporary accommodation, including more than 83,000
children – that’s one child in every average London classroom
without a secure place to call home.
The Mayor of London, has announced a new programme to
continue the city’s council housing revolution, as part of a new
ambition to see boroughs buy 10,000 new homes over the next
decade. The Mayor’s innovative new Council Homes Acquisition
Programme (CHAP) will give councils access to funds to purchase
homes from the private market, responding to Londoners’ urgent
need for social housing and temporary accommodation.
The need for new council homes has never been greater, with
London boroughs grappling with the financial and social costs of
a ballooning homelessness crisis. Over 170,000 Londoners are
currently living in insecure temporary accommodation, including
more than 83,000 children, with many families stuck in unsuitable
bed and breakfast accommodation. This means that 1 in 23 children
is without a secure place to call home. This is also putting a
huge strain on already stretched council finances.
All London boroughs will be able to bid for funding from the new
programme. All homes funded through CHAP must comply with the
Decent Homes Standard and meet strict building safety standards.
Homes will also need to be within boroughs’ boundaries to ensure
residents can stay rooted in their local communities. Local
authorities will be able to purchase a wide range of homes from
the private market, including former council homes lost to Right
to Buy, which over the past four decades has driven down London’s
overall number of council homes.
CHAP is one of the key mechanisms that the Mayor is championing
to help increase the supply of council housing across London
following initiatives such as the Mayor’s Right to Buy-back
scheme which saw over 1,200 homes acquired by councils, the
landmark £1bn Building Council Homes for Londoners grant funding
programme, and his £10m Homebuilding Capacity Fund.
Mayor of London, , said: “I’ve put
council housing at the heart of my plan to boost homebuilding in
the capital, and I’m proud that we’re now building more council
homes in London than at any time since the 1970s – and more than
the rest of the country combined. My new Council Homes
Acquisition Programme will allow boroughs to move at pace to
increase the number of council homes in our city, offering a
lifeline for thousands of Londoners who are facing high housing
costs, as the first part of my ambitious goal for councils to buy
10,000 homes over the next decade.
“I will continue to take decisive steps to address the social
housing crisis, stemming the tide of loss and replenishing
London’s council house stock. Bringing these homes into public
ownership is a key part of my plan to build a better London for
everyone – a city that is greener, fairer and more prosperous for
all.”
Mayor of Lewisham, , said: “Tackling
the housing crisis is one of the biggest challenges facing
councils in London. Alongside our existing council house building
programme in Lewisham and the success of the Mayor of London’s
Right to Buy-back scheme, this funding will help address the
desperate need for more social housing and temporary
accommodation in our borough.”
This new programme also responds to one of the main
recommendations of the Mayor’s London Housing Delivery Taskforce,
which comprises leaders from across London’s private and public
housebuilding sector, who met in September 2023 to discuss
solutions to overcoming major challenges currently impacting
levels of housebuilding in London.
The long-term solution to this crisis is the creation of more
genuinely affordable council homes, and the Mayor is doing
everything in his power to keep up pace and momentum in helping
councils to build these homes for Londoners.
Under the Mayor’s leadership and thanks to the efforts of
boroughs, London has entered a golden era of council
housebuilding. Since 2018, more than 23,000 council homes have
been built – or are being built – with the help of City Hall
funding. London has completed more homes of all types in recent
years than at any time since the 1930s and delivered higher
council homebuilding than at any time since the 1970s – more than
the rest of the country combined.
Earlier this year, Sadiq met the hugely ambitious affordable
homebuilding target of starting 116,000 homes, set under the
Government’s 2016-23 Affordable Homes Programme. Nationally,
Ministers have failed to meet their target, and the Mayor has
continued to call for unallocated funding to be given to London
to spend In order to meet the 10,000 council homes aim and
address growing demand for genuinely affordable homes.
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