New dawn for London

In July I was invited by the new Mayor, Ken Livingstone, to chair an independent Housing Commission on the need for affordable housing in London.

Our report argues that enabling all Londoners to enjoy a decent affordable home is vital to achieving the Mayor’s wider vision of London as a thriving, inclusive world city. There is now a unique opportunity to develop a genuinely holistic approach to policy making, in which strategies for housing, spatial and economic development, transport, health and the environment reflect and reinforce each other.

The evidence in our report shows that there is not just a housing justification for a major increase in the provision of affordable homes, but also an economic justification and a public service justification. The lack of affordable housing is now affecting a growing range of people in London. Not only those on low wages or without jobs, but an increasing number of people in jobs on moderate incomes cannot afford to buy or rent.

"Key workers" are often thought of as nurses and teachers , although health and education services also depend on porters, cleaners and classroom assistants. Yet workers in transport, local government and the police and fire service are also essential to London’s public services - and so too are the retail, tourist and service industries now vital to London’s economy.

Whilst in the short term it may be justified to give priority to staff in those services, which are given the highest priority by both the government and the public, in the longer run London should be developing a new "intermediate" housing market to tackle the wider needs of people on moderate incomes. Affordable homes should include not only socially rented housing, but a range of forms of housing which are subsidised or discounted below market prices.

The Mayor’s responsibilities for strategic planning include producing a Spatial Development Strategy" for London, which can set targets for the provision of affordable homes and give the policy framework for the London borough’s Unitary Development Plans (UDP). The Mayor also has powers of direction over large scale development proposals.

Our report makes a detailed assessment of the requirement for affordable homes and an ambitious strategy showing how this can be met. We recommend that London needs 28,000 affordable homes a year, including 20,500 socially rented homes and 7,500 "intermediate" homes for people who cannot afford to buy or rent at market prices.

We believe that the new London planning process can and must play an important role in the provision of more affordable housing. The policies in the SDS should be that at least 50 per cent of all new residential development across London should be affordable, and clear targets are set in every borough UDP to ensure that the sum total of borough targets meets the pan-London requirement.

But it will not be possible to achieve the number of affordable homes through new development alone. Our proposals put forward what we call a "portfolio" approach, including a major programme of buying existing vacant homes, making better use of the existing housing stock and reforms to modernise the privately rented sector - including crucially on housing benefit.

We recommend that the SDS should also have as a key objective the promotion of social cohesion through the creation of more inclusive communities across all areas of London. In some areas of inner London with a high concentration of socially rented housing this will mean a wider diversity of tenure - including more intermediate and market homes. In many areas of outer London - but also high prices areas of central London - it will mean significantly more affordable homes

The Commission has learnt only too well that there may be strong resistance to almost all possible policies: a higher financial contribution to affordable housing from developers; more rented homes in suburban neighbourhoods; more public spending on affordable homes. But simply to accept those difficulties would be a counsel of despair.

Our report is pragmatic about the means. We are dogmatic only about the ends. We share the vision both of the government in its housing Green Paper and the Mayor - that everyone should have a decent home at a cost they can afford.

The Commission has sought to carry out our work in the most open and inclusive way we could. As well as receiving over 130 wirtten submissions of evidence, we have also had 30 visits and meetings. Whilst daunted by the scale of the problems, we have also been energised and inspired by imaginative new solutions, examples of collaborative partnerships and the commitment of many people to achieve results even against huge odds.

We have produced our report within the timescale we agreed, so that it can contribute to the housing elements of the SDS and the development of an overall London Housing Strategy. The 18 members of the Commission have brought a very wide range of experiences and expertise, and we have been enormously helped by the housing research and planning officers in the GLA who have advised and supported the work of the Commission. I am amazed how much we have managed to do in such a short time - but there is nothing like deadlines for concentrating energy!

For me it has been one of the most challenging, but also rewarding and educative, experiences in over 30 years involvement in housing in London. I hope our report will make a difference.