London’s town halls say they could deliver more than 50,000 new council homes across the capital over the next decade — but only if the Government stumps up the money to build them.
An analysis by London Councils of borough submissions to the London Social and Affordable Homes Programme (LSAHP) has uncovered a pipeline of identified sites capable of delivering upwards of 50,000 council homes in the next ten years, provided sufficient grant funding is made available.
The cross-party organisation, which represents all 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation, says the figure demonstrates councils’ commitment to building what it calls the next generation of council housing — and to working with ministers to make it happen. Delivered in full, the pipeline would expand the capital’s council housing stock by almost 15 per cent, on top of the roughly 390,000 homes boroughs currently own and operate.
The £12 billion funding gap
The ambition comes with a formidable price tag. London Councils estimates that building out the whole pipeline would require £12.3 billion in grant funding — more than the £11.7 billion allocated to the entire LSAHP between 2026 and 2036. That pot must also stretch across housing associations and private developers, not just town halls, with each borough’s share still to be confirmed by the Greater London Authority (GLA).
Borough leaders have welcomed the Government’s increased investment in the social and affordable homes programme, along with City Hall’s confirmation that council-led schemes will deliver 60 per cent of the homes in the first LSAHP allocations. But they insist ministers must go further if the 50,000-home pipeline is to become bricks and mortar rather than lines on a spreadsheet — a warning that will resonate in town halls where capital budgets are already under strain.
What is the LSAHP?
The London Social and Affordable Homes Programme is the devolved grant pot that bankrolls affordable housebuilding in the capital. Unlike the rest of England, where Homes England calls the shots, in London the Greater London Authority administers the funding — a settlement ministers have held up as a model of devolution in action. Councils, housing associations and developers all bid in for grants that make below-market rents stack up financially. The boroughs’ latest submissions are, in effect, their shopping lists — and London Councils has now added up the town-hall share.
Why it matters for Londoners
London is living through what borough leaders describe as the most severe housing and homelessness emergency in the country. Waiting lists for council homes run into the hundreds of thousands, while town halls spend huge sums housing homeless families in temporary accommodation — much of it pricey private-rented flats. Each genuinely affordable council home built is one fewer household trapped in limbo, and one less drain on the public purse. It is a pressure Southwark has confronted by overhauling its allocations system, while elsewhere councils are moving to take over homes left empty for months.
“These figures demonstrate boroughs’ ambitious commitment to building the next generation of council housing across the capital.” — Cllr Anthony Okereke, London Councils’ executive member for housing and homelessness
“London is grappling with the most severe housing and homelessness emergency in the country. Boosting the number of council homes is a key part of tackling this crisis – and London boroughs have a proud track record of delivery in recent years,” he said.
“Boroughs want to build more. We have identified a pipeline of over 50,000 new council homes we could deliver in the coming years. These are specific development opportunities where we are seeking funding for new council housing.”
“We have the expertise, we have the vision, we have the determination – we now need the investment to make it happen.”
The 15 per cent maths
The scale of the proposal becomes clear when set against the existing stock. Boroughs currently own and run around 390,000 council homes; adding more than 50,000 would grow that portfolio by almost 15 per cent — the largest proportional expansion of municipal housing in the capital for a generation.
The capital already punches above its weight on council building. The Government itself has acknowledged that “London is already showing what can be achieved through fuller devolution when it comes to council housebuilding”, with half of all council homes completed in 2024-25 built in the capital.
What boroughs want from the Budget
With the Autumn Budget approaching, London Councils is urging ministers to pair any grant uplift with deeper reform. Its demands include further targeted grant increases to make more schemes viable; an overhaul of nationally set Housing Revenue Account rules — the ring-fenced budgets through which councils manage their housing — including an urgent reassessment of the 2012 HRA debt settlement; access to low-interest lending; and a “London Formula Rent reset” giving boroughs extra flexibility to set social rents that reflect the capital’s punishing property costs.
Boroughs also want more firepower to buy existing homes outright. Acquisitions funded through the Local Authority Housing Fund and the affordable homes programme have already unblocked stalled sites, turned market housing into affordable homes, reduced reliance on the private rented sector for emergency temporary accommodation, and helped keep London’s wider development sector afloat during the downturn. Councils have also shown they will fight to defend affordable housing quotas on new developments, as Southwark did at Elephant and Castle.
More detail on the boroughs’ analysis is available from London Councils.
