Skip to content 
Search

Latest Stories

London sees record housing starts as Sadiq Khan seeks to address ‘crisis’

The mayor’s office said City Hall-funded affordable homes have been started in every borough with Greenwich and Ealing leading the way

London sees record housing starts as Sadiq Khan seeks to address ‘crisis’

A record number of affordable homes were started in London last year as Mayor Sadiq Khan seeks to address the city’s “housing crisis”.

City Hall on Monday (15) said 25,658 affordable homes were started in the British capital in 2022/23, the most for a year since the Greater London Authority began keeping records in 2002.

This compares with 18,840 affordable homes started in 2021/22.

Both councils and housing associations have been empowered to build houses under the Affordable Homes Programme and 116,000 homes have been delivered since Khan became mayor in 2016.

His office said City Hall-funded affordable homes have been started in every borough with Greenwich and Ealing leading the way.

Every borough has seen more than 2,000 affordable homes started by either the council or housing associations, it said.

Khan, who vowed to “build a London for everyone”, said the housing crisis was “turbo-charging inequalities”, making the city “less meritocratic and more divided.”

“We’ve completed more homes of all types than at any time since the 1930s,” the mayor said adding, “We hit our target of starting 116,000 new genuinely affordable homes, we’ve exceeded it.”

He, however, admitted it would take time to resolve the crisis as demand is outstripping supply and his efforts would be “a marathon, not a sprint”.

“Even though we’re breaking records, I know not all Londoners will see or feel this progress yet,” the Labour politician said.

“I’ve always been honest with Londoners – that the housing crisis was decades in the making and it will take time to fix” and “we’re moving in the right direction,” he said.

Khan also urged the government to arm him with the powers to introduce a rent control system for London that would allow him to “freeze rents and give renters badly needed respite.”

According to affordable housing provider MTVH’s chief executive Geeta Nanda, tackling the housing crisis in London is an absolute priority for G15 housing associations.

The G15 chair called for partnerships across the housing sector and between different tiers of government to deliver homes to people.

More For You

Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

FILE PHOTO: Keir Starmer (L) with Narendra Modi. (Photo: Getty Images)

Modi set for UK visit to sign free trade agreement

INDIA's prime minister Narendra Modi is likely to travel to the UK by the end of this month for a visit that could see both sides formally sign the landmark India-UK free trade agreement and explore ways to expand bilateral ties in the defence and security sphere, diplomatic sources said.

Both sides are in the process of finalising the dates for Modi's visit to the country by the end of July or the first part of August, they said.

Keep ReadingShow less
Rishi Sunak returns to Goldman Sachs, will donate salary to charity

Rishi Sunak. (Photo by Carl Court/Getty Images)

Rishi Sunak returns to Goldman Sachs, will donate salary to charity

FORMER prime minister Rishi Sunak has returned to the banking world as senior adviser at Goldman Sachs group, with plans to donate his salary to the education charity he recently established with his wife Akshata Murty.

The US-headquartered multinational investment bank, where Sunak worked before entering politics, made the announcement on Tuesday (8) after the requisite 12-month period elapsed since the British Indian leader's ministerial term concluded following defeat in the general election on July 4 last year.

Keep ReadingShow less
 Post Office Horizon

A Post Office van parked outside the venue for the Post Office Horizon IT inquiry at Aldwych House on January 11, 2024 in London.

Getty Images

Post Office scandal linked to 13 suicides, says inquiry

Highlights:

 
     
  • Public inquiry finds up to 13 suicides linked to wrongful Post Office prosecutions.
  •  
  • Horizon IT system faults led to false accusations, financial ruin, and imprisonment.
  •  
  • Sir Wyn Williams says Post Office maintained a “fiction” of accurate data despite known faults.

A PUBLIC inquiry has found that up to 13 people may have taken their own lives after being wrongly accused of financial misconduct by the Post Office, in what is now described as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history.

Keep ReadingShow less
UK ramps up drought response following driest spring

The EA has begun conducting more compliance checks on high-usage industries

Getty Images

UK ramps up drought response following driest spring since 1893

Key points

  • Spring 2025 was England’s driest and warmest in over 130 years
  • Reservoirs across England only 77% full, compared to 93% average
  • Environment Agency increases monitoring and drought planning
  • North-west England officially declared in drought

Water conservation measures stepped up ahead of summer

The UK government has increased efforts to manage water resources after confirming that England experienced its driest and warmest spring since 1893. The Environment Agency (EA) reported that reservoirs were on average only 77% full, significantly lower than the usual 93% for this time of year.

The announcement came after a National Drought Group meeting on Thursday, which reviewed the impact of continued dry weather on crops, canal navigation, and river flows. Poor grass growth and dry soil conditions were noted as threats to food production and livestock feed.

Keep ReadingShow less
Norman Tebbit

Following Thatcher’s third general election victory in 1987, Tebbit stepped back from frontline politics to care for his wife. (Photo: Getty Images)

Getty Images

Former minister, Thatcher ally Norman Tebbit dies at 94

Norman Tebbit, a close ally of former British prime minister Margaret Thatcher and a former Conservative Party cabinet minister, has died at the age of 94. His son William confirmed the news on Tuesday.

"At 11:15 pm on 7th July, 2025, Lord Tebbit died peacefully at home aged 94," William Tebbit said in a statement.

Keep ReadingShow less