Three London councils – two of them Labour controlled – have launched a legal challenge to stop the Mayor of London’s planned cut to the affordable housing quota from 35% to 20%.
Seven councils are backing the legal action in total, with Lambeth, Southwark, Waltham Forest and Haringey councils (also Labour controlled) formally supporting the legal challenge.
Evidence prepared as part of the Judicial Review claim, which has been filed with the High Court and served on the Greater London Authority, highlights what the Towner Hamlets authority calls “the detrimental impacts that the Mayor of London’s policy would have on the ability of councils to deliver the highest levels of affordable housing for their residents.”
The challenge relates to the Mayor of London’s attempt to reduce the current 35% affordable housing quota in the London Plan without using the proper statutory process for amending that plan.
It also relates to what the independent-controlled Tower Hamlets authority describes as “the lack of a fair consultation before the policy change was made, including a lack of evidence justifying the blanket reduction to 20% affordable housing in all London boroughs.”
In 2016 the Mayor of London said that more than 50% of new homes should be affordable.
The plans to further reduce the quota from 35% to 20% have been criticised by some local authorities across London, by some London MPs and housing organisations such as the National Housing Federation and Shelter.
A statement from Tower Hamlets says: “90,000 children are homeless and living in temporary accommodation, which is one out of every 21 children in London – equivalent to at least one homeless child in every London classroom.
“Housing costs are the overwhelming driver of child poverty in London. The proportion of people living in poverty in London increases significantly from 15% to 26% when housing costs are included.
“London is already facing a school closure crisis, with a sharp decline in pupils as families are pushed out the city, leaving classrooms empty.”
Lutfur Rahman, Executive Mayor of Tower Hamlets, states: “It is a scandal to cut the affordable housing quota when the need for genuinely affordable homes has never been greater. Our city is increasingly being turned into an investment asset for the super rich rather than a place where ordinary Londoners can afford to live, work and raise a family.
“City Hall claims this policy will incentivise developers to build homes more quickly. But homes for whom? If ordinary Londoners can’t afford them, they will simply sit empty. Far from accelerating housebuilding, the policy is already slowing it down, with some developers delaying schemes until the quota is cut to 20%.
“London is becoming a tale of two cities, with luxury apartments bought up by overseas investors and left empty, while families languish on housing waiting lists, and 1 in 20 children in our city homeless and more than one million Londoners trapped in overcrowded housing or homes unfit for human habitation because of damp, mould or pests.
“With seven councils backing this legal action, we are demonstrating the devastating impact this policy would have across London.
“We remain ready to engage constructively with the Mayor of London and the Greater London Authority, but we cannot stand by while thousands more Londoners are pushed out of their communities and plunged into poverty and homelessness.”
