Mayor launches £4m fund to help boroughs unlock land for council homes

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan is set to boost boroughs’ ability to build council homes with a new £4m revenue fund.

The Land for Council Homes Revenue Fund aims to help councils identify and unlock land on which to build homes and to boost the skills and capacity of boroughs’ in-house housing, planning and regeneration teams. This will help councils build the good quality, affordable homes Londoners need and establish a pipeline of new projects for the next decade and beyond.

This new funding is the latest stage in the Mayor’s ongoing commitment to building the homes Londoners so desperately need. Last year, local authorities started more new council homes in London than in any year since 1979.

This resurgence in council homebuilding has been driven by initiatives such as the Mayor’s Building Council Homes for Londoners (BCHfL) programme and his Homebuilding Capacity Fund, both of which were launched in 2018.

Almost all London boroughs are now building council homes, across City Hall programmes and beyond. When the Mayor’s council homebuilding programmes launched in 2018 only eight boroughs had active projects underway, that number has now climbed to 30 of the 32 boroughs building council homes in 2021/22.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan said, “I’m proud that we’re reversing years of decline to create a renaissance in council homebuilding and are once again seeing these homes return to every corner of our city.

“Many councils are now building homes on a scale not seen in decades and have had to re-establish their housing delivery teams with limited support from central government. This new fund will help boroughs acquire the skills and expertise they need, as well as aid their efforts to acquire land for these vital homes.

“I’m determined that we do all we can to build on the success of recent years, empowering councils and working with all those involved in constructing new council homes to help build a safer, fairer, greener and more prosperous city for all Londoners.”

Cllr Darren Rodwell, London Councils’ executive member for regeneration, housing & planning, said, “the chronic shortage of council housing is a key factor in London’s homelessness crisis the most severe in the country and undoubtedly among the most pressing challenges the capital faces.

“Giving boroughs the powers and resources we need to build new homes will bring real benefits to our communities. We’re determined to ramp up progress, and today’s announcement will help make that happen.”