Rayner bails out Khan as he struggles to hit housing target
The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government has agreed the cut the Labour Mayor's target for new starts on affordable homes by 22pc, marking the second time in two years that ministers have stepped in to lower the target.
Sir Sadiq initially had a goal to build 35,000 affordable homes in London by March 2026. However, the last Conservative government cut that target in 2023 to between 23,900 and 27,200 homes after the Mayor struggled.
Ms Rayner's department has now lowered the goal even further to between 17,800 to 19,000 homes.
Susan Hall, leader of the City Hall Conservatives, said: 'Khan's record is so shambolic his own government has had to bail him out.'
The cut was announced hours after official figures were published showing that affordable home starts last year were at the second-lowest level since 2008.
Works began on 3,991 affordable homes in the 12 months ending March 2025. While the total marked an improvement from the previous year's record low of 2,358, it remains significantly below average.
Ms Hall said: 'Sadiq is nowhere near where he should be at this stage, absolutely nowhere near. He was given billions by the last government to carry this out. His record on housebuilding has been atrocious. Londoners deserve better.'
Sir Sadiq promised a 'golden era for council housebuilding' in 2023. The Mayor was handed £4bn by the previous Conservative government for his affordable homes programme. It was topped up with £100m from Rachel Reeves in last year's Budget, and another £60m earlier this year.
To date, construction has begun on 5,188 homes under Sir Sadiq's affordable homes programme, which runs from 2021 to 2026.
The new, reduced target means the Mayor is now just under a third of the way to reaching his 2026 objective, rather than only around a quarter of the way to meeting the lower end of his previous goal.
Sir Sadiq must still start work on 12,612 affordable homes in less than 12 months to hit his goal, meaning construction activity must more than triple.
The Mayor has set an overall target to build 88,000 homes a year in London, though existing plans only deliver around 40,000.
In a bid to ramp up his pace of housebuilding, the mayor last week said he was 'actively exploring' options to build on parts of London's green belt.
His shift in stance has been met with significant backlash from campaigners and Tory councillors.
Ms Hall said: 'For nine years he has promised to avoid building on the green belt. It was the one thing I believed him on, he's been so passionate about it for so long. For him to go back on it – it's an absolute disgrace.'
Tom Copley, the deputy mayor of London for housing and residential development, said the Mayor was 'taking the hard decisions to improve housing supply of all tenures'.
Mr Copley blamed the 'horrendous legacy of the last government' for making it harder to build homes, including 'a lack of national funding, high interest rates, spiralling building costs, delays from bodies like the Building Safety Regulator and the lasting impact of Brexit.'
He added: 'The decision to adjust our Affordable Homes Programme 2021-2026 targets will enable us to support partners to build at scale and deliver the maximum number of social and affordable homes in this programme.'
A spokesman for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: 'We are determined to deliver the biggest boost to social and affordable housing in a generation but we cannot do this without London being ambitious in its approach.
'The Mayor last week put forward a bold proposal to tackle the capital's housing crisis, and we expect him to take all possible steps to build thousands more affordable homes that Londoners desperately need.'
It is not the first time Labour has eased pressure on the Mayor. Last year Ms Rayner abandoned a review aimed at boosting homebuilding in London and reduced his overall housing target from 100,000.
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