Few will have missed that London is in the midst of a housing crisis. Recent figures¹ suggest more than 180,000 people are currently living in temporary accommodation across the capital, a situation made worse by the snail-like pace at which construction work commences on new affordable homes – 3,156 starts across Greater London in the year to March 2024, compared with 26,386 in the previous 12 months². 

Meanwhile, too much of the city’s existing rental housing stock is in sub-standard condition. Even those with a roof over their heads can face intolerable living conditions due to persistent issues like damp and mould. Ever-tightening finances and rising costs for those seeking to build, manage and maintain affordable homes compound the problem. 

Consequently, housing in London needs to be reimagined so that it is fit-for-purpose in the 21st century, from financing to build quality, improving organisational leadership among housing providers, as well as bolstering relations between landlord and tenant. 

The London Society seeks to promote the steps necessary to ensure our city both delivers and maintains good quality homes for the Londoners of today and the future. With this in mind we recently invited the Housing Ombudsman and three experts in social housing design and operation into the offices of architects BDP to discuss the issues and spell out to an audience of LS members what needs to be done to improve housing quality and tenants’ lived experience.

Introduced by London Society chair Leanne Tritton, Housing Ombudsman Richard Blakeway said the impact of the housing crisis manifested itself in the scale of those tenants’ experiences investigated by his department. “We handle 600 cases a month and last year issued 22,000 corrective orders. While we are not an advocate for tenants or residents, we inevitably throw a spotlight on their lived experience.” 

That experience was often impacted by issues relating to landlords, the leaders of which needed to act when asked to do so, rather than deflect. “We have to look at how the system – landlords and other organisations – responds to both vulnerability, not least because many tenants are vulnerable, and how trust is built. In my job I see real issues around trust and confidence in how organisations work together. And I can see poor outcomes as a result,” he added.

There will be inevitable consolidation of housing providers, Richard believed, and the impact this will have on delivering and operating homes in the capital needed to be considered. “We also need to look at how tenants achieve redress when things go wrong, at how we extend redress so that more people can be confident their voices will be heard and their issues taken seriously.”

Heather Thomas, chief executive of Sapphire Independent Housing, believed the issues facing the sector are systemic, and can be traced back to the introduction of Right To Buy in 1980, where stock was taken out of the market, yet councils were denied the opportunity to use sales receipts to build new homes. Tightening finances were a major factor, she said. “Limits on rent increases have contributed to a loss of financial capacity amounting to £3bn since 2015/16. Other factors such as inflation have resulted in our rental income being almost 15% lower in real terms than they were in 2016.”

There was also a societal factor: “We should be challenging the stigma that is increasingly associated with living in social housing.”

While there was much industry talk about the scale of delivering new homes, said Kyle Buchanan, director of Archio architects, it should be acknowledged that the condition of existing homes was intrinsically linked to the ability to provide new stock. 

“The quality issues of existing homes is the result of them not being built properly in the first place,” Kyle said. “We talk to residents about our designs for building sustainable new affordable homes in the midst of their community and they say ‘Yes, that’s great, but my kitchen ceiling fell down six months ago and no-one wants to repair it’. That’s a responsibility issue that clearly needs to be addressed, but we have to build quality homes from the outset, so that we’re not storing up problems for the future.” 

Meanwhile, working with the NLA and its expert housing panel had shown Kathryn Tombling, principal at BDP, how housing can be seen as infrastructure, and the potential for changing the model around financing developments. “Clearly the economics don’t currently stack up,” she said. “With high land values, a scheme’s affordable element is often reduced from 50% to 30%, and we say ‘that’s good’. Are we building enough family homes? We recognise the ingredients for good quality affordable housing, the issue is how we deliver it.”

In conclusion, London’s housing crisis won’t be solved overnight. But by working with residents, central government, local authorities, landlords and other stakeholders, to find solutions to the issues facing the capital, those charged with designing, delivering and operating affordable homes in London will be better placed to create the conditions everyone wants to see.

The topic of good quality homes, particularly in the rental sector, and how the overall housing system can be rendered fit for purpose to properly serve those who rely on it, are issues the London Society will re-visit in 2025.

1. London Councils’ statement
2. Affordable housing starts down 88%