City Hall publishes prospectus outlining how London’s share of the £39bn for affordable homes announced in the spending review will be allocated
Sadiq Khan’s £11.7bn programme in London will include funding for his new ‘key worker living rent’ product, the Greater London Authority (GLA) has confirmed.
The GLA has today published its prospectus providing more details of how the mayor will allocate London’s £11.7bn share of the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme announced by the government in the spending review in June.
It said that 60% of the SAHP homes in London will be for social rent. Overall build targets for the programme won’t be announced until after the initial bidding round which runs from February next year to April 2026.
The London programme will however also introduce ‘key worker living rent’. Under this product, which City Hall consulted on last year, the GLA will publish borough-level benchmarks for local incomes. Rents and service charges will be capped at 40% of average key worker household income after tax by London borough.
After letting the homes for the first year, providers would then be able to increase rents by up to CPI plus 1% a year, similar to the way social housing rents are permitted to increase. A practice note with further details on the product will be published soon.
The scheme will also include funding for shared ownership.
Initial funding allocations for the London programme will be announced in June.
In addition to national regulations, London’s SAHP “will not permit the use of combustible materials in newly-built developed buildings of all heights funded through the programme”.
>> Read more: The Social and Affordable Homes Programme prospectuses: what you need to know
It will also require providers to install automatic fire suppression systems (AFSS) in newly-built buildings of all heights – with the exception of houses and buildings similar to houses.
Tom Copley, deputy mayor for housing and residential development, said: “Partnership working is key to delivery and the launch of our new prospectus today will support councils, developers, partners and communities to provide the high-quality, sustainable and affordable homes we desperately need as we continue to build a better and fairer city for all.”
Homes England, which administers the £27bn SAHP outside London, also this morning published its prospectus. It confirmed an aim to ensure 60% of homes under the programme are for affordable rent. Six established regional mayors will be given the ability to “set the strategic direction” of SAHP totalling £7bn in their areas. This includes shaping tenure mix and identifying priority sites for development.
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