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As Mayor, I welcomed the Government's announcement earlier this month of a £1.5 billion boost to the budget for new housing in England.
London desperately needs affordable new homes and I'm committed to getting them built and refurbished. Unfortunately, it is increasingly clear that this “new” money that we've been promised is not all it seems.
London looks set to get much less than its fair share of the pot, with the bulk of the cash being diverted to other regions. Worse, much of the “new” money is actually being raided from existing housing programmes, including the budget for improving London's most dilapidated council homes.
And the Government has made these important decisions behind closed doors in Whitehall, failing to consult either me or the local councillors who are on the front line in tackling the capital's housing problems.
I am determined that London must receive its fair share of the housing budget, in line with the Government's own rules — which have until now distributed funding between the regions. It is wrong that the capital, the part of the country with overwhelmingly the greatest national housing need, is the only region seeing its share of these new funds reduced.
London has almost 48,000 households in temporary housing but its share of any new money will be cut by a third. Meanwhile, the North-East, with just 300 households in temporary housing, will see its share double. ]
Just one immediate consequence of these cuts is that the Government is reneging on its pledge to fund improvements to around 110,000 of London's poorest-quality social homes. As a result these tenants face an even longer wait for basic improvements. Ministers claim the money is not lost but “deferred”, but in the words of Gladstone, “justice delayed is justice denied”. It means that thousands of London's poorest residents will continue to endure deteriorating living conditions.
I will not stand by while ministers direct investment out of London to regions with significantly lower housing needs simply because it is cheaper and quicker to build homes there. Whatever the Government's intentions, national politicians are remote from local concerns: it is wrong that they alone should make these kinds of decisions about how London's housing resources are spent.
Their preoccupation with short-term national targets means they have failed to take account of local needs or regional housing markets. Yet in so doing, they risk failing to deal with the very housing problems that the Government claims to be tackling.
Indeed, in making these decisions with no regard to the housing powers now devolved to the Mayor in London, ministers may have acted outside their powers. I am seeking advice on whether these decisions are open to legal challenge. If the Government will not live up to the promises it has made to council tenants, then I will. As Mayor, it is my job to defend the capital's budgets and the city's poorest people.
So I will be instructing the Homes and Communities Agency in London to reverse these cuts and I am looking at how I can use my powers to win back London's rightful share of this
£1.5 billion.
London faces acute housing problems. That is why I have announced ambitious proposals to deliver 50,000 more quality affordable homes (a record number since 1997), to halve severe overcrowding and to end sleeping rough. But we need our fair share of national funding too. Ministers must think again: I want every Londoner to have the chance of a living in a decent, affordable home.
Reader views (6)
Boris Johnson,
here is a recession thought: why not bring back thousands of empty council properties back into use? This would 'regenerate' communities far better with far less financial effort. The councils can't even manage and afford the upkeep of their existing housing stock, let alone new stock.
Kind regards
- Carsten Haferkamp, London
God bless our lame duck mayor. Having tried to wrong for central government again and again, he's now finding himself out of favour. I wonder how much the legal advice will cost Londoners? Sounds like saber rattling to me from a mayor who has clearly lost the plot.
- Steve S, London
''I want every Londoner to have the chance of a living in a decent, affordable home''this statement is smelling little bit politics Mr Boris Johnson.Your party has ruled this for many many years but nothing has been done to recover poorest situation in London. God knows what your intention is you are talking about decency and rightful shares of Londoners.Are you leftist Mr Johnson?
ilyas orhanli
- Ilyas Orhanli, Manchester
On another seriously important, yet equally crucial, related topic Boris, can you not immediately introduce a 'London' byelaw that criminalises the plethora of sickening underhand practises that are still habitually used by dodgy estate agents, during home transactions.
Yet another glaring issue of increasing malpractise that's be totally neglected by ZaNuLabour's evasions over the past 12 squandered years.
- Dave, Cumbria
Boris,
I am glad that you recognize the severe shortage of housing that the capital is suffering. However, please ensure that the new dwellings being built are not just yet more one and two bedroom hamster cages but that there are a significant number of dwellings with five and six bedrooms, for those who need proper sized flats and houses. Currently, a family with three children have virtually nothing available to them from the new social housing stock.
- Ross, London, UK
Her's a thought Boris. You earn half a million a year, but you still claimed the full allowance for your Islington mansion, so us poor taxpayers paid your mortgage for you for 5 years, one hundred thousand pounds in total.
In light of that, your whining about not enough money for homeless people strikes me as a little odd.
Why not just repay the money you chiselled from us?
- Steve Cahn, London E3
