Sadiq Khan details his plan to build 6,000 rent-controlled homes for 'everyday heroes'

Evening Standard

Sadiq Khan’s plan to build thousands of rent-controlled homes could save ‘key workers’ in London up to £600 per month on their rent, according to City Hall.The mayor on Monday launched a consultation on the plan, which aims to see at least 6,000 such properties start construction by 2030.To ensure the new homes are “genuinely affordable”, Mr Khan is proposing to set the rents at 40 per cent of average key worker household incomes after tax.This is an established measure of affordability, mirroring what is already enshrined in the mayor’s London Plan - an official document which guides future development in the capital.Mr Khan’s team said that, when compared with renting from a private landlord, this model could save key workers up to £600 per month on their rent.The figure comes from the fact that the average market rent for a two-bedroom London home in 2023 was £1,825pcm, whereas a rent-controlled two-bedroom property would have a benchmark rate in 2023/24 of £1,236pcm.Annual rent increases would potentially be set in line with wage rises, or at two per cent each year, depending on which is higher.The mayor has already produced a list setting out who he considers to be a key worker, based on definitions drawn up by the Office for National Statistics.It includes people working in education and childcare, such as nursery assistants, school secretaries and caretakers; in the ‘food and necessary goods’ sector, like retail cashiers, shelf-fillers and shopkeepers; and in health and social care, such as nurses, midwives and paramedics.

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00:00Sadiq Khan has just announced a plan to build 6,000 rent-controlled homes for London's everyday

00:06heroes. But what does this actually mean? London's housing crisis is no secret. With

00:11rents hitting record highs, averaging around £2,000 a month, many Londoners are being

00:17priced out of their city. To help tackle this, the Mayor of London has announced a consultation

00:21to build what he calls genuinely affordable homes, but specifically for key workers. They

00:27would set the rents at around 40% of an average income, and his team reckon this would save

00:32the key workers around £600 a month compared to renting with a private landlord. But who

00:40is eligible for these cheaper rentals? Well, the Mayor has quite the list. People working

00:45in education and childcare, such as nursery assistants, school secretaries and caretakers.

00:50People in the food and necessary goods sector, like cashiers, shelf fillers and shopkeepers,

00:57and folks working in health and social care, such as nurses, midwives and paramedics. Only

01:01households with a joint income of no more than £67,000 a year would be eligible. And

01:06if it's signed off, the construction will take place by 2030. But some campaigners warn

01:12that these 6,000 homes will not go all the way to fix the issues faced by London's tenants.

01:18And there's still a call for a London-wide rent freeze. It's something that Sadiq Khan

01:23has pushed for in the past, but in order to do that, he would have to be devolved some

01:28powers by the government. Previously, the Conservative government were not up for this.

01:33And it seems, at least for now, neither is Keir Starmer and his cabinet.

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