Royal Borough of Greenwich remains top affordable home builder for third year running

The Royal Borough of Greenwich had the highest number of new affordable homes started of any London borough last year, repeating its success from 2022-3 and 2023-4.

Work began on 608 GLA-subsidised homes across the borough in the last financial year, and the council also completed the second highest number of affordable GLA-supported properties, with 790 finished and handed over to the tenants who now call them home.

Over 400 of the new homes are to be let at social rents to people on our housing register, easing the pressure caused by London’s housing crisis

Councillor Anthony Okereke, Leader of the Royal Borough of Greenwich, said:  

“We are more committed than ever to Our Greenwich mission of ensuring that everyone in our borough has access to a safe and secure home, and these numbers reflect that.

By successfully pursuing the largest programme of council home-building in Greenwich for a generation, we are showing that councils can be and are the solution to the misery caused by London’s housing crisis.

Councils can build housing that is truly affordable, with rents linked to local incomes, allowing everyone in our community to thrive with the solid foundation of a secure home.

While there is still a long way to go in solving the housing crisis, we hope that our success can be a model for other local authorities to follow. We thank the Mayor of London and his team for the subsidies that have helped unlock our potential as a leader in affordable home-building.” 

In total the council is committed to creating 1,750 new, low or zero carbon council homes across Royal Greenwich. Of these, ten per cent will be wheelchair accessible and a large proportion will be family homes, with some five-bedroom houses included in the programme.  

The council is also working closely with a variety of other housing providers in the borough to maximise the creation of non-council affordable housing. 

These providers include Meridian HomeStart, who deliver discount market rent properties to key workers, London Community Land Trust and Greenwich Citizen’s Housing who are creating discounted, community-led housing to local people, and housing associations such as L+Q, Hyde, PA Housing and Peabody Homes.