Latest editorial
Mayor of London Sadiq Khan during the Diwali on the Square celebration, in Trafalgar Square, central London, October 27, 2024
LONDON Mayor Sadiq Khan warned today that London’s housing crisis is dragging the economy down as he called for a significant increase in investment to build more affordable and social homes.
He also called for the creation of a devolved City Hall Developer Investment Fund after City Hall research found that a 1 per cent increase in housing affordability could boost the capital’s economy by £7.3 billion over a 10-year period.
He backed the easing of constraints on local government to borrow to build — including providing certainty on Public Works Loan Board loans, which offer low-rate, long-term loans to councils — at the Centre for London’s annual conference.
Only an ambitious programme of state-led investment can restore growth and improve living standards, argues MICHAEL BURKE
Years of underfunding are eroding Scotland’s local services and deepening inequality in communities, says VINCE MILLS
Our housing crisis isn’t an accident – it’s class war, trapping millions in poverty while landlords and billionaires profit. To solve it, we need comprehensive transformation, not mere tokenistic reform, writes BECK ROBERTSON