Housing campaigners in Southwark are urging the council to maintain its existing ambitious targets for affordable housing amid recent proposals to reduce the requirements for new developments in London. This comes after the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, and the Housing Secretary, Steve Reed, announced a controversial cut in the affordable housing target from 35% to 20%, offering developers incentives such as planning fast-tracking for meeting the lower threshold.

Local groups, including the 35% Campaign, Peckham Vision, and Aylesham Community Action, have joined forces to oppose the new measures. They argue that accepting the reduced targets will further diminish the already limited availability of genuinely affordable homes in Southwark, a borough grappling with a severe housing crisis. An open letter to the council’s leadership warns that if developers succeed in lowering their affordable housing contributions, as seen in planned cuts at significant sites like Canada Water and the Aylesham Centre, most local households will be priced out of the housing market. The letter emphasises that only about 7% of Southwark households can afford market-rate homes, according to local planning data, making affordable housing crucial to the community.

Southwark's housing challenges are stark. The borough currently has over 20,000 households on its social housing waiting list, with more than 4,000 living in temporary accommodation. Particularly alarming is the situation for children: the number of kids in temporary housing in Southwark has risen dramatically, from around 1,900 in 2020 to approximately 3,500 in 2024, a 77% increase over four years, as reported by the New Economics Foundation. This rise far outpaces the 25% increase seen across England in the same period, highlighting the disproportionate impact on Southwark's youngest residents.

The critical nature of the crisis is further underlined by analysis from Shelter, which found that 1 in 38 people in Southwark will be homeless this Christmas, ranking it ninth highest among council areas nationally for homelessness. Children represent 40% of the homeless population in the borough, and a significant majority of homeless families have been in temporary accommodation for over two years, often placed outside Southwark itself. This geographic displacement breaks vital support networks and exacerbates the hardships faced by these families.

Critics, including local Liberal Democrats, attribute the worsening homelessness and inadequate housing supply to what they describe as the Labour council’s failure to deliver enough genuinely affordable, family-sized homes. They highlight that Southwark accounts for 1 in 30 of all households in temporary accommodation across England, despite comprising just 1 in 200 households nationally. Many children endure years in overcrowded, damp, and insecure accommodation, with severe consequences for their health and education.

In response, Southwark Council insists its commitment to affordable housing remains steadfast. Cllr Helen Dennis, Cabinet Member for New Homes and Sustainable Development, reaffirmed that the council "will always fight for the largest possible number of council homes, social rent and genuinely affordable homes," continuing to work towards targets established in the borough’s Local Plan. She also highlighted Southwark’s record as the local authority building the most council homes nationally and noted that the borough completed more social rent homes than any other London borough last year.

Moreover, Southwark has launched a five-year Homelessness and Rough Sleeping Strategy from 2025 to 2030, which focuses on early intervention to prevent homelessness and improve support. This includes reopening the Bournemouth Road Homelessness Prevention Hub, expanding Housing First initiatives, and investing over £11 million from the Local Authority Housing Fund to purchase former council homes, aiming to alleviate the pressure on temporary accommodation and reduce the number of displaced families.

Nevertheless, campaigners remain sceptical about the Mayor’s and government’s new lower affordable housing targets, warning there is no evidence these changes will increase the overall supply of affordable homes. They call on Southwark Council to resist weakening local housing standards to ensure the borough's most vulnerable residents have a chance at securing a stable, decent home amid London’s ongoing housing crisis.

📌 Reference Map:

  • [1] (MyLondon) - Paragraphs 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8
  • [2] (Southwark Liberal Democrats) - Paragraph 4, 5, 7
  • [3] (Southwark Liberal Democrats) - Paragraph 5, 7
  • [4] (Southwark Council) - Paragraph 8
  • [5] (Southwark Liberal Democrats) - Paragraph 6
  • [6] (Southwark News) - Paragraph 5
  • [7] (NepalUK) - Paragraph 5, 7

Source: Noah Wire Services