Affordable housing policy is not a funky issue: technical, complex and mundane, it doesn't make headlines easily. But in a city where homelessness and overcrowding are rife it can be political dynamite not least because it's one of the areas where London's mayor has significant power.
Yesterday Boris Johnson wielded some of that power, announcing that £42 million will be spent on helping middle income Londoners on to the "affordable" end of the housing ladder through his "First Steps" scheme. As Helene reported yesterday, the move has drawn heavy fire, as has his housing strategy as a whole.
The heaviest of all came from Margaret Beckett in the Commons. Responding to a prompt from west London MP Andy Slaughter - whose battles with Tory-run Hammersmith and Fulham Council are a story in themselves - she said:
I do have concerns. I'm perfectly willing in principle to work with the Mayor on a different way of delivering the affordable housing targets, which he seems to feel he could do simply by asking local authorities to cooperate, which doesn't seem to be so far delivering.
Boris, of course, would beg to differ. He'd say his method for delivering affordable homes through the boroughs is constructively localist and a more effective way of matching delivery to need than the "top down" approach of his predecessor. But yesterday's First Steps announcement was slammed by a DCLC spokesman for being premature: "We are disappointed that the mayor has prematurely announced these proposals without first securing the necessary funding approval from government."
What's going on? Boris's housing director Richard Blakeway insisted that the measure was agreed by the relevant body - the London Board of the Homes and Communities Agency - last month. Why the dither and delay? The Department's line is, effectively, that Boris doesn't know what he's doing - that old favourite. And other familiar battle lines are being drawn. Nicky Gavron, Labour's housing spokesperson on the Assembly, was quick to allege that the First Steps scheme puts the most needy last. Maybe housing will get funky after all.
