The Future of Housing in London

“Working with government, I have secured £3.15bn to start building at least 90,000 new affordable homes. We will help Londoners who would otherwise struggle to rent or buy, by building a range of new affordable homes. This will include homes for low-cost rent, London Living Rent, and shared ownership” - Sadiq Khan, Homes for Londoners: Affordable Homes Programme 2016-21, November 2016

London’s housing stock has increasingly failed to provide housing for lower income working people, or even for middle income young professionals. This process began during the 1980s, when the Thatcher government, excited by neoliberal economic theory and tempted to attract many voters, introduced the “Right to Buy” scheme to force local governments to sell their Council Housing stock to the tenants at greatly subsidised prices, which thereby prevented them from building new stock. This began the change we are experiencing, moving from a more balanced availability of housing in the sectors of public rental, private rental, and the mortgaged owner-occupier. Is London destined to be ‘hollowed out’ as some critics assert, with only housing for the rich, and ‘buy-to-leave’ investment storage in empty properties? What policies, financial models, and production methods can challenge this? How vital to the future economy and social cohesion of London is a major rethinking of the ways that we produce and manage new housing?

This will be an evening debate with a range of architects and policy makers discussing how we can start to change the current dysfunctional model of housing production for the better.