Mayor to miss London’s affordable housing target

The mayor of London Boris Johnson will fail to hit his target of building 50,000 new affordable homes in London by 2011, according to the deputy mayor for policy and planning.

Despite an election pledge last year, Sir Simon Milton said that the poor economic conditions meant that the target would not be hit until at least 2012.

Johnson chose not to follow Ken Livingstone’s policy of demanding that 50% of all new residential developments should include 50% affordable housing content, and adopt an overall target of 50,000 new affordable homes by 2011 instead.

Milton told the London Assembly that he expected the target to be met by 2012 through the construction of more new home builds and property acquisitions.

The committee’s chair Jenny Jones commented: “We welcome today’s confirmation that the 50,000 affordable homes target will be met, but we regret the delay. The mayor must do his utmost to ensure this important target will not be affected by any further delays.”