Targets must be realistic, says GLA chief as he urges employers to help staff pay for housing
The London mayor's controversial target for all developments in the capital to include 50% affordable housing will be lowered if property prices slump.

Speaking at a British Property Federation event, Greater London Authority chief executive Anthony Mayer said: "As we see a cooling off in the housing market, the 50% target will have to be revisited. It is based on a bull market and there is evidence of a slowdown."

When pressed by developers keen to see the onerous target eased, Mayer added: "If we have a series of empirical data that the heat is now off the housing market, then the mayor would like to reconsider his 50% target – targets have got to be realistic."

British Property Federation chief executive Liz Peace welcomed the news that the GLA was to be more flexible, but said the evidence of a weakened property market could only come from developers' accounts: "This requires open-book accounting – but there are issues about trust between councils and developers."

Mayer also outlined GLA proposals to encourage employers to provide affordable housing for members of their staff who were struggling to pay high rents. He said employers had to "get real" and recognise that high prices were harming their businesses by debilitating the lower-income labour market.

Mayer said the GLA would push for the adoption of one of three policies:

  • employers to pay staff a housing allowance
  • employers to pay staff a travel allowance as they move further out of London to find housing they can afford
  • employer-led affordable housing, using housing associations as agents.

Mayer said he hoped to stimulate debate, as the GLA had no powers to force employers to act.

  • Glenda Jackson MP, the London mayor's homelessness adviser, has called for a "pan-London strategy" for homelessness.

    Speaking at a House of Lords event last week, Jackson said homelessness could only be tackled through a centralised strategy rather than the single borough approach outlined in the Homelessness Act, which comes into force in July next year.

    Jackson said the boroughs' strategies should fit in with a London policy drawn up by the mayor. "There should be a pan-London strategy and that is something only the mayor and the GLA have the democratic mandate to give voice to," she said.

    Homelessness charity Shelter supported a centralised strategy but Michael Irvine, interim housing director of the Association of London Government, said: "The GLA has a role to play but the boroughs have to meet the responsibility [for delivering services]."