As the election for the Mayor of London next year looms on the horizon, candidates are pledging to build more homes in the capital. But targets are no use to anybody unless they are backed up with a credible plan, and in London the biggest challenge is that the housing market is broken, dysfunctional, pining for the fjords. Shelter wants candidates to produce a credible plan to build 50,000 homes a year within the first 100 days of office. One major plank of this plan has to be non-market housing. In dark times, we should nurture and grow the pockets of light that the market’s dysfunctions don’t reach. Councils, housing associations and co-operatives can all renovate and build homes and let or sell them at permanently affordable prices. The Mayor of London can give them every ounce of support available. If Sian Berry were elected the Green mayor, she would also work…
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