Affordable capital? Housing in London

Article

London is an expensive place to have a home. It faces unique challenges that combine to produce an increasingly unaffordable market for would-be owners and tenants alike. In particular, the government's welfare reforms will have a significant impact on the ability of London's citizens to buy or rent a decent home.

This case study report makes a series of policy recommendations aimed at reducing the worst effects of London's housing squeeze. These recommendations include:

  • increasing the supply of housing, for example by releasing more public land for development
  • improving the effectiveness of welfare reforms, including a short-term uplift in the housing allowance cap and a longer term move to devolve housing powers and responsibilities to the mayor
  • achieving reasonable regulation in the private rented sector, including exploring maximum base rents and forming a rent stabilisation body
  • increasing taxation of foreign buyers of prime London property by pressing ahead with various tax changes currently under consultation.

Related items

  1. Queen Square Bus Station on Hood Street in Liverpool city centre

    En route to renewal: Delivering better, greener buses

    Good buses drive a strong economy, healthy environment and thriving society. 
  2. Townhouses beside the railway on the viaduct with a running train in Durham, UK

    On track to prosperity: Great Northern Rail

    It’s time the North saw real change for better transport, delivering prosperity and better lives: a long-term plan for Great Northern Rail
  3. Union Jack flag and the Stars and Stripes flag of the USA, fluttering together in front of Big Ben in Westminster

    It's the cost of living, stupid: Why progressives lose and win

    UK households are impatient for change. Trust in our political system is low and that’s reflected in scepticism across the board that government can make things better.