Previously confidential documents show that whilst Londoners faced an affordable housing crisis, Wandsworth Council negotiated away over 1000 affordable homes on the Battersea Power Station site in order to prop up the failing company Treasury Holdings. The attempt to bail out Treasury with permission to build luxury properties failed, the company went into administration shortly […]
Sadiq’s deal with the developers – The Affordable Housing and Viability SPG
Last week the consultation on the Mayor of London’s new Affordable Housing and Viability Supplementary Planning Guidance closed. You can see and download my full response to the consultation at the end of this post, but the main issues are summarised below. Viability and affordable housing The issue of affordable housing and viability has been […]
Not just a betrayal – The Mayor’s affordable housing ‘aspirations’
It has taken less than a year for the new Mayor of London to abandon the firm commitment to mandate that 50% of homes on new developments are built as affordable housing. Now, in a deal with London’s property developers he has announced that he will only be seeking 35% affordable housing on new homes. […]
House builders’ profits explode 5x in 6 years
Profits at major house builders suggest that building more affordable homes in London is possible Currently, private developments in London are only delivering 13% of their new housing as affordable housing. Most London boroughs have a requirement that 40-50% of housing on new developments is classed as affordable. The argument often put by the house-building […]
Sadiq spins the revolving door for financial viability consultants
In August, the new Mayor of London Sadiq Khan announced that he would be employing an expert group to scrutinise affordable housing viability assessments, the documents property developers have to submit to councils when they want to drop affordable housing obligations. We have reported on a number of occasions on how viability assessments are used […]
Recent Comments