Building more and lower cost homes in London

Did you know that London has far fewer homes per person than capitals like Paris or Berlin? 

Over the past 20 years, London has created 1.75 million extra jobs, drawing more people to live in the city. Homebuilding, however, has consistently lagged behind.  

This doesn’t just lead to high prices and rents. It also means many more Londoners are homeless or live in overcrowded housing than in other parts of the country. 

To overcome these problems, the city needs hundreds of thousands of extra homes for its current and growing population. 

City Hall is using what funding is available to get more social and affordable housing built., The scale of the challenge means we need new homes from major housebuilders, small builders, councils and community group developers as well. 

There are only so many places that new homes can go, and each option involves compromises. Land could be used for something else such as businesses, and what a neighbourhood looks like could change if it is to have more homes. 

What Londoners have told us so far

City Hall’s planning team spent a day exploring this challenge with 40 Londoners representative of the city’s diversity. They explored the housing needs of different groups and the impacts of new homes on existing communities. They discussed the trade-offs involved in designing and locating new homes. The group then explored together where more homes could be built.

Here’s a snapshot of what they said:

• ‘You can’t just change a couple of areas and not the rest… everyone needs more housing’
• ‘We're changing the authenticity of London and I feel that that's what London is… I don't think we should go and change every environment’
• ‘In places where you have just one train line, chances are that you have more people who drive which means that you’d probably want more parking there – so you wouldn’t want high rises’
• ‘I would say for an older person, I think the shopping, the amenities and the transport links are really important because… as you get older you might not be able to drive’
• ‘If you're going to do a lot, are you going to invest in all the other things that will impact more people coming into that area? You can't just take housing as separate.’

Join the conversation

Tell us where you think new homes should go and what sort of homes you’d like to see. Think about:

• What kind of places do you think are most suitable for building new homes in London?
• What is most important for new homes to offer – more space, a lower price or a location close to jobs and services?
• Would you rather fewer new buildings that are taller (leaving more space at ground level for other uses), or more new buildings that were lower but took up more space? 
• What facilities are needed in your local area to support more new homes?