At the beautiful Central Hall in Westminster, the property industry’s charity LandAid hosted a debate on Tuesday night on housing issues, with three of the London mayoral candidates – Zak Goldsmith (Conservative), Sadiq Khan (Labour) and Caroline Pidgeon (LibDem).

Missing was Sian Berry (Green), although the party fielded a Green London Assembly member, Darren Johnson, in her absence.

LandAid last year gave out £1.2m worth of grants which supported 6,767 young people.

Lucian Cook of Savills – the headline sponsors of the night – said that 130,000 young people had asked for help with homeless-related issues last year, with 65% of those in work or studying.

Cook added that rough sleepers in London have doubled since 2009.

He also demonstrated how housing is now high on London’s political agenda, with screenshots from all the mayoral candidates’ websites talking prominently about solving the housing crisis.

However, during the candidates’ opening statements, only the Conservative and Labour candidates, Zak Goldsmith and Sadiq Khan, talked about homelessness.

All four mayoral hopefuls stated that doubling the current building rate to 50,000 units per annum was a key target.

The debate quickly descended into a jousting session between Goldsmith and Khan.

Goldsmith attacked the £2bn hole that he said would be left in the Transport for London budget if London voted Labour. Khan riposted on the unaffordable nature of Starter Homes, the Conservative Government’s policy to help people on to the housing ladder.

First points were chalked up by Goldsmith when he took apart Khan’s claims as misleading the audience on the facts of the Starter Homes scheme.

Goldsmith said many homes would be available for between £160,000 and £250,000, and that the £450,000 amount claimed as unaffordable by Khan was a cap rather than the average.

When asked about USPs for their housing strategies, Khan mentioned setting up a not-for-profit letting agency and taking on rogue landlords, but was not challenged on the practicalities of these policies.

Khan also took the opportunity to roll out the ‘son of a bus driver’ story that has shaped his campaign, but was quickly mocked by the Lib Dem candidate Pidgeon, who is the daughter of a carpenter.

Other USPs were the Olympic-style council tax levy to fund house-building from the Lib Dem candidate, and the Green candidate encouraging smaller developers via a Netherlands style public land assembly effort.

During the Q&A part of the debate, candidates responded to questions on building on the Green Belt, solving homelessness, whether they supported height restrictions on buildings, and which way they would be voting on the Brexit issue.

All the candidates were in agreement that London does not need to build on the Green Belt to satisfy targets, with suggestions including building up properties from three to five storeys across London, while regenerating 1950s/1960s housing estates would be an “ethical obligation and a no-brainer”.

Passions also came to the surface when candidates were asked how they would end homelessness, with observations that the situation was a “source of shame” and so bad that “some charities are handing out night bus tickets so people can be in a secure place”.

The first audience participation came when the LibDem candidate weighed in on height restrictions saying: “I don’t want to see more Walkie Talkies and Cheesegraters which are a blight.”

This was promptly booed by an audience made up of those who built and lease those very same buildings.

Khan, the shortest person on the platform, quipped: “Size isn’t everything.”

But the best lines of the night came from the Brexit question.

Khan reeled off a list of everyone he is campaigning alongside to stay in the EU from the prime minister to cabinet members and business leaders. Pippa Crerar, the Evening Standard reporter sitting next to me, leaned over and whispered, “Everyone but Jeremy Corbyn”.

Goldsmith, who has stated he is voting to leave the EU, said he would not be campaigning for Brexit as he has a job to do.

He insisted: “London will flourish regardless of the result of the referendum, but the important thing is the democratic mandate from 48m people.”

The final word on the night belonged to LibDem’s candidate.

She said: “The EU has been good for London. The EIB (European Investment Bank) has funded Crossrail and (railway) rolling stock. If we leave, we’ll just be this island in the Atlantic with no mates at all.”

This reporter wanted to add: “Aren’t we voting on the EU, and we have a housing crisis because too many people want to come here and be our friends?”

After the debate, Paul Morrish, chief executive of LandAid, told EYE: “This evening, 300 property leaders heard each candidate pledge in turn to tackle rough sleeping and especially the disturbing rise in young people becoming homeless.

“With the property industry beginning to unite behind LandAid’s campaign to end youth homelessness, whoever wins the mayoralty can rest assured that a multi billion pound industry will be holding them to account.”

* Rayhan Rafiq Omar is a commentator on the housing market, an expert on proptech, and is a some-time roving reporter for EYE. He also blogs at Realpundit.com