Boris Johnson’s proposed abolition of the 50% affordable housing policy devastating for Londoners
"Boris Johnson's repeated pledge to abolish the policy that 50% of new housing in London must be affordable housing would have devastating consequences for Londoners. Given the huge upward pressure on house prices in London it would concentrate development in high priced and luxury housing, pricing houses even more out of the hands of ordinary Londoners.
"To understand the practical consequence it is only necessary to know that last year the Tory flagship council Wandsworth only built 11% affordable homes.
"In my 8 years in office housing building in London has almost doubled - from 17,000 a year to 33,000 last year, with the proportion of affordable housing rising.
"Boris Johnson's is a policy to completely turn the clock back and would be immensely damaging for Londoners looking for a new affordable home to rent or buy.
"Johnson's policy would also make it impossible in practice to meet the target of 50,000 new affordable homes in three years which he has taken from my housing strategy.
"Most of Boris Johnson's other housing proposals are simply pinched from policies I have already announced in my housing strategy or at meetings with London Councils.
"This includes the 50,000 new affordable homes pledge - which is only possible because of the extra £1 billion I secured from the government for housing - and plans for more low cost home ownership opportunities.
"Stopping development on the Green Belt has been one of my priorities in the London Plan since it first came out and the proposals on small shops and back gardens I announced last year.
"The number of empty homes in London has been reduced by my polices to 84,000, the lowest since the 1970s.
"But there should be no misunderstanding - the core of Boris Johnson's policy is the repeated proposal over several months to abolish the policy that 50% of all new housing should be affordable housing and this will have a devastating effect on Londoners."