Although London Mayor Boris Johnson's housing policies are mush less ambitious than his predecessor's, many parts of the city still lag well behind targets for affordable housing—even amidst an infamously cost-prohibitive real estate market.
Barbara Speed begins an article for CityMetric by noting the failure of London's 32 boroughs to hit targets for affordable housing established by the 2008-9 London Plan. While some boroughs did well to meet the targets for the three years leading up to 2013, far more did not. Kensington and Chelsea, for instance, only hit 10 percent of their affordable housing target in that timeframe.
"While part of the problem is a lack of private companies willing to build loads of housing, there are also quirks and loopholes in planning policy which allow councils and developers to build developments with little or no affordable housing, and all without breaking any rules," writes Speed.
Speed goes on to provide six examples of the ways developers—and politicians—work the system in London to the detriment of the city's housing affordability.
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