A new City Hall report has concluded that London is falling significantly short of delivering the affordable homes most urgently needed by families and disabled residents.
The London Assembly Housing Committee said the capital’s housing strategy is failing to respond to growing demand and increasingly complex social requirements across communities.
The committee warned that the Mayor’s Affordable Homes Programme is not structured to prioritise suitability, accessibility, and long-term stability for vulnerable Londoners.
It argued that too much emphasis has been placed on numerical delivery targets rather than on the actual quality and usefulness of homes built.
Families and disabled residents were described as being disproportionately affected by a system that does not reflect their everyday housing realities.
The report said urgent reform is required to prevent London’s housing crisis from deepening and placing even greater strain on already pressured households.
The committee found that only three percent of homes delivered through the Affordable Homes Programme between 2016 and 2025 had four or more bedrooms.
It also revealed that fewer than twenty percent of homes built during that period contained three bedrooms suitable for family living arrangements.
The vast majority of affordable homes delivered were studios or one and two bedroom properties designed primarily for smaller households.
This imbalance has created a severe shortage of accommodation options for families requiring additional space for children or dependents.
The report said many families are forced to remain in overcrowded housing due to a lack of suitable alternatives.
It warned that prolonged overcrowding contributes to worsening physical health, mental wellbeing, and educational outcomes for children.
The committee stressed that family sized homes provide stability that is essential for long term social development and community cohesion.
Without significant changes, the shortage of larger affordable homes is expected to worsen as population pressures continue to grow.
The report said current building trends are failing to reflect London’s demographic reality and long term housing needs.
One of the report’s strongest criticisms focused on how grants are allocated to developers through the Affordable Homes Programme.
Funding is primarily distributed on a per unit basis rather than being linked to the size or number of habitable rooms.
This structure makes smaller properties far more financially attractive for developers to construct and deliver quickly.
Larger family sized homes cost significantly more to build but receive limited additional financial support.
The G15 group of London’s major housing associations said grants should instead be allocated by habitable room.
They argued this method would better reflect actual construction costs and the complexity of building larger properties.
The committee supported this proposal and said it would create a fairer and more effective funding model.
It said funding should reward suitability and long term social value rather than simply maximising housing unit totals.
Although fewer homes might be built under such a system, their overall usefulness to Londoners would be far greater.
The report stressed that success should be measured by impact, not only by volume of delivery.
The committee also criticised the lack of progress in delivering accessible and wheelchair friendly affordable homes.
It said insufficient and unreliable data made it impossible to assess whether existing targets were being met.
This lack of clarity prevents proper accountability and weakens confidence in housing delivery systems.
Disabled and deaf Londoners were described as being consistently let down by poor monitoring and limited enforcement.
The report said the absence of firm, measurable targets has allowed accessible housing delivery to fall behind.
Accessible homes were described as being treated as optional additions rather than essential infrastructure.
The programme was criticised for failing to adjust grants to reflect the additional cost of accessible construction.
As a result, developers lack sufficient financial incentive to prioritise accessibility within new developments.
The committee concluded that accessible and family sized housing face identical structural funding disadvantages.
The Mayor’s Affordable Homes Programme is also struggling to meet its revised construction targets.
The original target of thirty five thousand starts by March 2026 was reduced twice due to delivery challenges.
It now stands between seventeen thousand eight hundred and nineteen thousand affordable homes.
By September 2025, only six thousand three hundred and seventy homes had been started.
This leaves more than eleven thousand homes still required in an increasingly limited time frame.
The committee said housing delivery has slowed sharply since 2023 across London boroughs.
At the same time, demand for genuinely affordable housing has continued to rise steadily.
This widening gap has placed growing pressure on councils and housing associations.
The report warned current performance makes meeting future targets extremely unlikely without reform.
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