Briefing: A Capital in Crisis

Shelter is the UK’s largest housing charity. Last year we gave information, support and advice to millions of people experiencing bad housing and homelessness.London is facing a housing emergency, driven by soaring private rents, insufficient housing benefit levels and a disappearance of social housing in the capital. Shelter’s new report calls on the government and the next Mayor to use their powers and influence to urgently tackle this deepening crisis.

To fix London’s housing emergency, the next Mayor must:

1. Ensure London delivers more of the social housing its workers and families need, through a social-rent delivery policy which does not conflate social housing with other so-called affordable housing tenures.

2. Work with all London local authorities to help them deliver social housing, including by developing their own social-rent delivery policies.

The government must: 

1. Provide funding for the social housing that London needs.

2. Remove social housing “get-out” clauses from the national planning system.

3. Increase Local Housing Allowance rates to ensure that they once again cover at least the cheapest third of local market rents.