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Press Release

Our response to Rachel Reeves’ first speech as Chancellor of the Exchequer

In response to Rachel Reeves’ first speech as Chancellor of the Exchequer, Antonia Jennings, CEO of Centre for London said:

“It’s great to see Labour promising action on a key part of their manifesto: building 1.5 million new homes over the next five years. We welcome the Chancellor’s announcement of council housebuilding targets. While the Chancellor has made no promises about where these homes will be built, at Centre for London we know that to ensure some alleviation of London’s housing crisis, a quarter of these must be built in the capital.

“Labour have been handed one of the most pervasive housing crises in the capital’s history.  A quarter of Londoners are left in poverty after paying their housing costs. Rough sleeping has increased by 50 per cent in the last decade. Our research estimates that we need to double the number of homes built annually in London, from 37,000 to 74,000 a year for 15 years to build the homes our city needs.

“Building on newly released ‘grey belt’ areas of the green belt, as Rachel Reeves described, will be essential to tackle the chronic shortage of housing in the capital. One estimate suggests building on 5% of the metropolitan ‘grey’ belt could deliver almost 900,000 homes around London.

“This policy is popular with Londoners. 50% of Londoners support building on ‘grey’ or low-quality sections of the green belt, with only 19% opposed according to our recent polling with Savanta. While releasing green belt land cannot, and clearly will not, be the only policy put forward to solve England’s housing crisis, it is a crucial step forward to reach Labours’ goal of 1.5 million new homes.”