News

London 2005 Housing Crisis - by Ross Lydall

The Evening Standard - 17th January 2005

The Evening Standard last week revealed that between 25,000 and 50,000 low-cost homes are to be built across the capital under a deal between John Prescott and Ken Livingstone.  The Deputy Prime Minister and Mayor are understood to be on the verge of agreeing a unique scheme to unlock acres of publicly-owned land for housebuilding.

Neale Coleman, the Mayor's housing director, said a hosuing capacity study would be published in the summer high-lighting £4,500 sites across London's 33 boroughs that are ripe for house building.  He said: "The levels of homelessness and overcrowding are testament to the need for more social housing.  But the crisis in affordability is an equally pressing problem and there is a desperate need for homes to buy that are affordable for first time buyers"