Sadiq Khan today has called on George Osborne to take ’emergency action’ in this week’s budget to help fix London’s housing crisis, and to double the number of homes built in the capital to more than 50,000 a year.
Labour’s Mayoral candidate warned that London’s housing crisis has become a ‘national emergency that is damaging Britain’s economy and productivity.’
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He called on the Government to devolve new powers to London in Wednesday’s budget to ensure a step-change in the number of homes built in London, including:
- Supporting a new construction skills academy.
- Giving City Hall control of all surplus public land in the capital.
- Boosting Government investment in London’s housing.
- Permitting councils to invest prudentially in new social homes.
- Allowing the Mayor to keep a portion of the Stamp Duty raised in London to spend on housing, as recommended by Lord Kerslake’s London Housing Commission last week.
- Taking action to prevent land banking.
- Ensuring greater transparency over property and land ownership to end the use of offshore holding companies to disguise the identity of ownership.
Sadiq Khan said the budget was a chance for the government to drop it’s ‘pay-to-stay’ plans for council tenants, as they will hit hardworking families on modest incomes the hardest.
Labour’s candidate for Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, said: “I grew up on a council estate built by a Government that understood that building affordable homes is good for Britain’s economy.
“But London’s housing crisis is now a national emergency that is damaging Britain’s economy and productivity. “The Government must use the Budget this week to take emergency action to build the genuinely affordable homes that Londoners need.
“This package of measures would give London government the tools it needs to get on with the job of fixing London’s housing crisis.”
