Shaun Bailey has revealed plans create a taxpayer-funded housing company and ban high-rise tower blocks in outer London.
Ahead of the launch of his election manifesto, the Conservative candidate today spoke to the Local Democracy Reporting Service about how he would build 100,000 shared-ownership homes for £100,000 each.
Mr Bailey was yesterday (April 8) joined by Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick as he announced his intention to create Housing for London (HfL), a City Hall-controlled house builder, if elected on May 6.
The mayoral hopeful said that Housing for London would be “run by City Hall and owned by taxpayers” and that it would “work with borough leaders to cut red tape and get building”.
Mr Bailey today said that Housing for London would be “a much more muscular approach” that would co-ordinate his plans for housing and that would not rely on “developers’ goodwill”.
Mr Bailey said: “All of the building that I’ll take charge of will be (through HfL) because Housing for London will be a much more muscular approach. Currently the mayor relies on developers’ goodwill. Forget that. If you’re land banking in London, I’m going to have a problem with that.
“The chief failure of Sadiq Khan is that he has massively underperformed. He missed his own housing targets by more than 50 per cent. He has started less than half the number of homes he said he would build in a year in a five-year period.
“Londoners can’t live on a start. A start is an A4 piece of paper with a signature on it. You need a front door to walk through, and that’s what I want to get to. I want to get front doors that you own that you can walk through.”
Housing for London would oversee the plan to build 100,000 shared ownership homes available for £100,000 each, according to Mr Bailey.
He said: “The plan here is to build 100,000 homes for £100,000 (each) using the shared ownership scheme. The best thing about it is that its significantly lowers the deposit you need. It is cheaper, always, than renting the equivalent property. And, of course, people get to own.”
Under his plans, the Mayor of London would be responsible for the repair and upkeep of shared ownership properties for the first ten years, which Mr Bailey said will help “make it a much smaller, much more realistic step” to own a home.
Also revealed today was a plan to “tighten regulations” on building “inappropriate” high-rise buildings and to “put beauty and quality of life at the heart of future planning”, as well as a plan to appoint a Deputy Mayor for Placemaking who “would have actual power” over planning decisions.
Mr Bailey said that he would promote developing on brownfield sites to meet London’s housing needs while protecting the green belt.
Last month, a spokesperson for the Mayor of London denied the claim that Sadiq Khan had missed housing targets and said that “he has hit every one of his annual delivery targets” over the past five years.
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