Mayor launches the London Housing Strategy

He pledged to help Londoners onto the property ladder, with an ambitions aim of 50,000 affordable homes over the next three years.

Standing next to the Pipers Model of London which, appropriately, shows not only the current, but many of the proposed future buildings in London, The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, launched his London Housing Strategy at New London Architecture in The Building Centre.

Given the current credit crunch and downturn in the construction market, kick-starting the housing market in London would be a challenge for anyone, but the Mayor asserted that he is 'determined to act to give hope and opportunity to all Londoners'.

This is to be achieved by the Homes and Communities Agency, which will be chaired by the Mayor, investing over GBP5bn to 'jumpstart development over three years'.

Not an easy task, with there being fewer first time buyers now than at any other point in the last thirty years, referred to by the Mayor as 'a permafrost caused by the credit crunch'.

The Mayor said: 'The strategy focuses not only on the issues facing the housing market in these difficult times but the historic problems of affordability, homelessness and overcrowding.

It is designed to meet the needs of Londoners aspiring to get a foot on the housing ladder'.

Investment will be directed into releasing public sector land for new development, acquiring unsold market homes for affordable housing and providing funding for stalled developments in London.

Through the 'First Steps' housing programme, the Mayor hopes to enable more Londoners to become home owners, increasing the household income limit to GBP72,000 for households to qualify for low cost ownership schemes.

The strategy is not only about housing for key workers, but also for those in retail and similar professions whom the mayor referred to as 'the backbone of the economy'.

Confident that London will come through this crisis, the Mayor announced that he is not willing to compromise on quality, design and architecture, no doubt a popular statement with The Building Centre's core audience of architects and contractors.

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