The number of affordable homes started in London has hit its highest level for eight years after the capital secured almost £5 billion funding from the Government.
Work began on 14,544 affordable homes in the financial year to the end of March, the lower end of City Hall’s target range of 14,000 to 19,000.
The total includes 3,991 homes for social rent — the lowest cost form of affordable housing.
Of these, 1,916 were council homes, the highest figure in London since the mid-Eighties.
Sadiq Khan has pledged to start building 116,000 affordable homes in London by 2022 but will need to ramp up the pace to hit the annual target of 45,000 by 2021.
Yesterday the Standard revealed the Mayor pumped £550 million into subsidising affordable housing last year, more than twice his budget.
Mr Khan said: “These figures show that focusing on building council and social-rented homes is the right way to tackle the capital’s housing crisis.
“Not only do these figures beat our records from last year, but this is more than double the number the previous mayor started in his final year.”
But Andrew Boff, the Conservative’s housing spokesman on the London Assembly, said: “Sadiq Khan was given £4.82 billion by the Government to build 116,000 homes by April 2022.
“We are now halfway through this programme, yet the Mayor has only started 34,515 new homes.
“Once again Sadiq Khan has demonstrated that there is an enormous gulf between what he promises and what he delivers.”
