The Mayor's housing strategy - London Councils' response

Following discussion at London Councils' Executive, Housing Forum and London Councils' Housing Directors Group the following paper sets out our response to the Mayor's draft London Housing Strategy. For ease of reference, we have focused our response on three areas: delivery, devolution and design. Our key proposals on each are as follows:

Delivery

• A short review of the current effectiveness of the Homes and Communities Agency London Board;
• The Mayor commits to a review of London borough affordable housing targets as delivery becomes apparent;
• That the Greater London Authority works with us to develop a coherent plan of action so as to encourage the growth of institutional investment in London and to make best use of work already being undertaken by the Homes and Communities Agency;
• The Greater London Authority works with London Councils to develop a pan-London shared-equity scheme, to sit along side other elements of the Mayor's First Steps programme;
• The Greater London Authority works with London Councils and London boroughs to oversee and manage the rollout of the London Development Agency's proposed London-wide Housing Company.

Devolution

• The Greater London Authority works with the Homes and Communities Agency and London boroughs to establish a 'Devolution Commission' on housing investment and governance which would explore a potential model for devolution in the capital;
• The Greater London Authority works closely with London Councils in developing an approach to the rationalisation of the housing association sector;
• The Greater London Authority works with London Councils to develop an appropriate strategy to tackle the likelihood that not all local authorities will be able to meet Government's target to halve the use of temporary accommodation by 2010.

Design

• The principles of the Mayor's Design Guide be adopted generally, but that provision be created for exceptional instances where aspects might be waived for particular developments of a certain scale;
• The Greater London Authority commit to working with London boroughs on developing a costed successor standard to the Decent Homes standard.

For the full text of our response, please view or download the document below: