They're supposedly having dinner together soon - on a personal level the pair of political wild cards get along - but Mayor Johnson's first major announcement about his approach to getting 50,000 new affordable homes built in the capital before the end of 2011 has provoked a sharp attack by his predecessor.
Ken Livingstone's approach was to deploy his powers to put the screws on London's boroughs, especially (affluent, Tory) ones reluctant to foster house building at the lower end of the market. His "fifty percent rule" - requiring that half the units in any new development met the "affordable" criterion - didn't generate the full quota but in a statement responding to Johnson's more "collaborative" approach, argues that reducing the pressure on Councils is exactly the wrong idea in the present market circumstances.
It will be fascinating to see what happens. "Make no mistake," Johnson says, "I want all the boroughs to make their fair contribution towards achieving our goal. But I believe that this can only happen by working with them so that we take account of individual circumstances and agree together what can sensibly be delivered."
Define "sensibly". Define "fair".
More from Inside Housing. Read the mayor's press release here. Read Ken Livingstone's statement below:
Instead of taking backward steps that will reduce the pressure for cheaper homes for Londoners to rent and buy the Mayor should address the central issue – the fact that house-building has virtually dried up. Failing to address this problem is leaving London's housing policy in a vacuum.
Abolishing the policy that half of all new homes should be cheap homes to rent or buy massively reduces the pressure for new affordable housing in London. The impact will be felt by ordinary Londoners needing affordable accommodation. In particular the reduced pressure for cheaper rented accommodation will pull up the housing ladder for many Londoners: it will hit hard if and when the housing market eventually picks up, reducing the requirement on developers and local councils to deliver for those who find it difficult to get a decent home at an affordable price.
It is false to claim that a policy that fifty per cent of new homes should be affordable leads to less homes being built - according to the Greater London Authority's own figures more homes and more affordable homes were being been built after the introduction of the policy than before. More than 33,000 new homes were built in London last year - the largest annual figure since 1977. A total of 11,980 affordable homes were also provided – an increase of more than 70 per cent since 2000.
Mayor Johnson has issued letters to each borough about how many affordable homes they should build but these have no legal force and are not a formal planning requirement. Borough leaders who don't want to build new affordable homes will be able to put it in the bin, whilst the core problem that virtually no new homes are now being built is left to one side. Furthermore it risks caving into those who do not want to provide vital affordable rented accommodation in their borough or locality.
London's housing policy is in disarray because it is not addressing the central issue: the unavoidable question in housing policy in London is that house-building has now withered on the vine due to the economic situation. Virtually no houses are being built including affordable ones. Fifty thousand new affordable homes will not be built in these circumstances. The mayor must address this central matter but has so far brought forward no package of measures and pressed for no changes in housing policy nationally that would significantly dent this problem.We should be supporting a greater role for the public sector to build new homes including if necessary the public sector buying up land for house-building. Initiatives such as that by Jon Cruddas, Frank Dobson and other MPs to call for nationalization of at least parts of the construction industry to begin a major house-building programme should also be supported. Without steps like these too few homes will be built and waiting lists will grow.
Nice to see he's friends with good old Frank Dobson too...
