London falling short on family homes, report warns

Not enough affordable family and accessible homes are being built in London, according to a new report.

Just three per-cent of all homes built through City Hall's Affordable Homes Programme (AHP) between 2016 and 2025 had four or more bedrooms. The vast majority – 78% – were either studios, or one or two-bedroom properties.

City Hall's Housing Committee said London's housing crisis was "hitting families and disabled Londoners hardest, yet the homes they need most are the ones least likely to be built".

Deputy mayor for housing, Tom Copley, said there was a "perfect storm" of factors for the under delivery, including soaring interest rates and construction costs.

The new report, noted that developers were not being given the appropriate grants to motivate them to build larger homes, the Local Democracy Reporting Service said.

The G15, a group of London's leading housing associations, told the committee's investigation that allocating grants based on habitable rooms "rather than per unit would better reflect the cost and space requirements of different home types, supporting delivery that aligns with local need".

The report also suggested that disabled and deaf Londoners were being let down by substandard monitoring of affordable, accessible housing and the "absence of targets" for the number of these built.

It comes as a separate report found housebuilding in London's private housing sector has fallen by 84% since 2015.

New research from consultants Molior found construction work began on 5,547 private-sector residential homes in 2025, compared with 33,782 in 2015.

Chair of the London Assembly Housing Committee, Zoë Garbett, said: "The report highlights that delivery has slowed sharply since 2023, at the same time as demand for genuinely affordable housing continues to rise.

"Without changes to how funding is allocated, the report warns that delivery under the next Affordable Homes Programme risks falling further behind."

Shortfall in affordable house building

• The mayor of London met his target of 116,000 starts under the 2016-2023 AHP, but has fallen short in recent years.
• The original target for 2021-2026 was 35,000 starts by March 2026, though this was later revised twice down to a minimum of 17,800
• However, just 6,370 affordable homes were started by September 2025, leaving a major shortfall ahead of the looming deadline.

Source: Affordable Homes Programme

Last year City Hall and the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government agreed a deal to reduce affordability quotas for developers from 35 to 20% in a bid to kickstart housebuilding.

A spokesperson for the mayor of London Sir Sadiq Khan said: "Tackling the housing crisis is a top priority for the mayor and he is doing everything he can to deliver more homes of all tenures.

"This year, we are encouraging housing providers to bid for a record government investment of £11.7 billion through the mayor's Affordable Homes Programme to deliver social and affordable housing across London, including thousands of Key Worker Living Rent Homes."

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