Not one ‘affordable’ home built in Newham last year

by Else Kvist, Reporter Friday, October 26, 2012
10:00 AM

The London Assembly member for Newham has hit out at Boris Johnson after figures reveal a 100 per cent drop in affordable housing in the borough.

Labour’s John Biggs, who represents City and East, said building statistics are “falling off a cliff” under the Conservative London Mayor after figures show no affordable homes were started last year in Newham compared to 1,076 the previous year.

It comes despite Newham Council last year accepting around 316 homeless families, he points out.

The figures from the Homes and Communities Agency also show a 70 cent drop in the building of affordable housing across the capital.

Mr Biggs said: “Boris Johnson has claimed great credit for administering the affordable housing programme he inherited from his predecessor, Ken Livingstone.

“Now it is clear his own record is less than impressive, with the number of affordable housing being build falling off a cliff.

“We are in the midst of a housing crisis in London, exacerbated by a chronic shortage of affordable housing.

“In Newham alone there are 32,000 on the council housing waiting list. What is the Mayor doing for these people?”

Mr Biggs said it was unacceptable for the Mayor to have let the figures fall so “dramatically” and said he needed to get “a grip” on delivering new affordable homes.

A spokesman for the Mayor said Mr Johnson had delivered 54,000 affordable homes in his first term and planned to double that figure by the end of his second term.

He said: “Mr Johnson has managed to deliver these affordable homes despite very challenging economic conditions.”