Housing takes centre stage in London mayor race » Housing » 24dash.com

Housing took centre stage in the race to become London mayor as the main candidates debated the capital's strategy for homes.

At the hustings held in Westminster, Mayor Ken Livingstone, Tory contender Boris Johnson and the Liberal Democrat's Brian Paddick all pledged to increase the number of affordable homes built in London and tackle rough sleeping by 2012.

But the trio differed on how to achieve the goals, with Mr Livingstone pushing for targets, with Mr Johnson urging a more "pragmatic and flexible" approach to social housing.

All three candidates acknowledged that solving London's housing problem was one of the main issues facing the capital.

Rocketing house prices has seen more and more people frozen out of the property market in recent years.

The average price of a house in the capital now stands at around £360,000, nearly 13 times the average wage.

Of the three men on the platform, only Mr Paddick could say that his house cost lest than that mark.

His one-bedroom property is worth £325,000, he told the audience. Mr Livingstone priced his house at around £400,000 to £500,000, whereas Mr Johnson could only confirm that his Islington home cost him "shed loads of money".

To tackle the growing problem of unaffordability, all three agreed that the number of homes being built had to be upped.

The incumbent mayor stuck to his target of making sure that across London 50% of all new builds were classified as affordable.

Mr Johnson also pledged more homes, but said that a flexible approach should be adopted. He also aired concern that more should be done to help those on a modest income onto the housing ladder.

Mr Paddick said the focus should be towards the rented social sector, stating that for a lot of the capital's inhabitants "affordable" housing was still "unaffordable".

As to homelessness, both the Tory and Labour candidates pledged to eliminate rough sleeping in London by 2012. Mr Paddick said that by that date anyone not wanting to be on the streets should have been found accommodation, but acknowledged that some people would still prefer to be sleeping rough out of choice.