London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 17, 2025

Sadiq Khan celebrates after reaching target of 20,000 new council homes

Sadiq Khan celebrates after reaching target of 20,000 new council homes

The Mayor of London has met his self-imposed target a year early - but a Conservative opponent accused him of ‘marking his own homework’

Sadiq Khan is celebrating after reaching his target of work having started on 20,000 new council homes across the capital.

The Mayor of London had been working to achieve the milestone by a 2024 deadline, but revealed this week that he has already surpassed it, with some 23,000 started since 2018.

Mr Khan had set himself the goal five years ago of 10,000 new council home-starts by 2022, but after achieving that goal, he doubled his target to 20,000.

Though the Mayor does not directly oversee the building of council homes, he does provide funding for them to borough councils.

The Mayor said: “There’s no quick fix to London’s current housing crisis, but I’m hugely proud at the progress we’re making delivering a new era in council homebuilding in the capital.”

Mr Khan said only 4,325 council homes were started in the rest of England in 2021-2022 - the latest year for which data was available - which he called a “national scandal”.

He urged the Government to give councils across England funding exclusively to boost their number of council homes.

A Government spokeswoman claimed not to recognise City Hall’s figures, and pointed out that when looking at the wider category of affordable homes, about 43,000 such properties were started in England outside London in 2021/22, compared to about 20,000 in London.

She added: “We are committed to building more social homes and are investing £11.5bn through our Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) to deliver tens of thousands of homes for rent and sale across the country.”

Using AHP funding, Mr Khan had been aiming for 116,000 affordable home starts across London by March 2023 - but his deputy mayor, Tom Copley, admitted in October 2022 that this target looked "increasingly challenging". Mr Copley blamed inflation, interest rates and political turmoil.

Statistics showing whether the 116,000 target was achieved will be published on May 15.

Commenting on Mr Khan’s council homes announcement, Conservative London Assembly Member Andrew Boff said: “This is a case of Sadiq Khan marking his own homework.

Andrew Boff, a Conservative member of the London Assembly

“The target that matters is the one he had received from the government with a record amount of funding, and unfortunately he is 18,000 homes short of achieving this.”

Mr Boff’s figure is derived from statistics covering a period up to the end of 2022.

He added: “This invented target is just gaslighting Londoners, trying to confuse them and distract them from his failure to build the homes that young Londoners need."

Asked whether he had met the target of 116,000 affordable homes, Mr Khan said: “We’ll have to wait and see.

“What we do know is every year since the target was agreed, we’ve smashed the target. Every year, we’ve broken records.

“We’ve had huge challenges in relation to not just the consequences of Brexit, [but] huge challenges in relation to the pandemic, Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, inflation, interest rates… so notwithstanding all that, we’ve thrown the kitchen sink at this.

“So we’ll have to see what the government announces on May 15. But everyone’s worked incredibly hard, the team at City Hall, developers, councils - and the only people hoping we don’t meet the target are my Conservative opponents.”

Mr Khan was speaking on a visit to Stonebridge in north-west London, where he met with a family who have recently moved into one of the new council homes.

The new development of council homes in Stonebridge, visited by Mayor Sadiq Khan on Wednesday

“The family I’ve spoken to, they’ve been in temporary accommodation for more than 12 years - three generations of six people [who were] living in a two-bedroom, cramped flat,” said the Mayor.

“And now they’re living - because of the great work of Brent Council, working with City Hall - in a lovely four-bedroom home, which will transform their lives.”

Muhammed Butt, the Labour leader of Brent Council, said his authority had “provided more homes than any other council in the country last year and is also proudly the highest social housing builder in London”.

He added: "A safe and secure home is the foundation for people to build their lives upon, and we know three and four-bedroom homes are most in demand.

Councillor Muhammed Butt, leader of Brent Council

"That is why we are delighted to hand over an entire street of 22 four-bedroom council homes and 51 one, two and three-bedroom flats, all at social rent, to Brent families in Stonebridge.”

He added that the new development, visited by the Mayor on Wednesday, "will change the lives of more than 70 families for the better”.

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Centrist Criticism of von der Leyen Resurfaces as she Survives EU Confidence Vote
Judge Criticizes DOJ Over Secrecy in Dropping Charges Against Gang Leader
Apple Closes $16.5 Billion Tax Dispute With Ireland
Von der Leyen Faces Setback Over €2 Trillion EU Budget Proposal
UK and Germany Collaborate on Global Military Equipment Sales
Trump Plans Over 10% Tariffs on African and Caribbean Nations
Flying Taxi CEO Reclaims Billionaire Status After Stock Surge
Epstein Files Deepen Republican Party Divide
Zuckerberg Faces $8 Billion Privacy Lawsuit From Meta Shareholders
FIFA Pressured to Rethink World Cup Calendar Due to Climate Change
SpaceX Nears $400 Billion Valuation With New Share Sale
Microsoft, US Lab to Use AI for Faster Nuclear Plant Licensing
Trump Walks Back Talk of Firing Fed Chair Jerome Powell
Zelensky Reshuffles Cabinet to Win Support at Home and in Washington
"Can You Hit Moscow?" Trump Asked Zelensky To Make Putin "Feel The Pain"
Irish Tech Worker Detained 100 days by US Authorities for Overstaying Visa
Dimon Warns on Fed Independence as Trump Administration Eyes Powell’s Succession
Church of England Removes 1991 Sexuality Guidelines from Clergy Selection
Superman Franchise Achieves Success with Latest Release
Hungary's Viktor Orban Rejects Agreements on Illegal Migration
Jeff Bezos Considers Purchasing Condé Nast as a Wedding Gift
Ghislaine Maxwell Says She’s Ready to Testify Before Congress on Epstein’s Criminal Empire
Bal des Pompiers: A Celebration of Community and Firefighter Culture in France
FBI Chief Kash Patel Denies Resignation Speculations Amid Epstein List Controversy
Air India Pilot’s Mental Health Records Under Scrutiny
Google Secures Windsurf AI Coding Team in $2.4 Billion Licence Deal
Jamie Dimon Warns Europe Is Losing Global Competitiveness and Flags Market Complacency
South African Police Minister Suspended Amid Organised Crime Allegations
Nvidia CEO Claims Chinese Military Reluctance to Use US AI Technology
Hong Kong Advances Digital Asset Strategy to Address Economic Challenges
Australia Rules Out Pre‑commitment of Troops, Reinforces Defence Posture Amid US‑China Tensions
Martha Wells Says Humanity Still Far from True Artificial Intelligence
Nvidia Becomes World’s First Four‑Trillion‑Dollar Company Amid AI Boom
U.S. Resumes Deportations to Third Countries After Supreme Court Ruling
Excavation Begins at Site of Mass Grave for Children at Former Irish Institution
Iranian President Reportedly Injured During Israeli Strike on Secret Facility
EU Delays Retaliatory Tariffs Amid New U.S. Threats on Imports
Trump Defends Attorney General Pam Bondi Amid Epstein Memo Backlash
Renault Shares Drop as CEO Luca de Meo Announces Departure Amid Reports of Move to Kering
Senior Aides for King Charles and Prince Harry Hold Secret Peace Summit
Anti‑Semitism ‘Normalised’ in Middle‑Class Britain, Says Commission Co‑Chair
King Charles Meets David Beckham at Chelsea Flower Show
If the Department is Really About Justice: Ghislaine Maxwell Should Be Freed Now
NYC Candidate Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Antifada’ Remarks Spark National Debate on Political Language and Economic Policy
President Trump Visits Flood-Ravaged Texas, Praises Community Strength and First Responders
From Mystery to Meltdown, Crisis Within the Trump Administration: Epstein Files Ignite A Deepening Rift at the Highest Levels of Government Reveals Chaos, Leaks, and Growing MAGA Backlash
Trump Slams Putin Over War Death Toll, Teases Major Russia Announcement
Reparations argument crushed
Rainmaker CEO Says Cloud Seeding Paused Before Deadly Texas Floods
A 92-year-old woman, who felt she doesn't belong in a nursing home, escaped the death-camp by climbing a gate nearly 8 ft tall
×