The London mayoral election takes place tomorrow, after a year delay.

The emergency Coronavirus Act 2020 postponed local elections across England, means that the existing mayor Sadiq Khan served an additional 12 months.

Labour candidate Khan is currently running for re-election, with a strong lead in the polls, ahead of his Conservative opposition Shaun Bailey.

There are major challenges facing the next mayor of London, including a chronic shortage of homes in the capital.

This year there are a record-breaking 20 candidates standing in the London mayoral election, but we have decided to focus on the candidates for the four largest parties in London.

The candidates of the four main parties have set out their policies on various issues, including housing, and so what do the their manifestos say on this issue?

Housing

City Hall estimates London requires around 66,000 new homes annually to meet demand from Londoners.

The mayor has the power to set targets on numbers and affordability of homes, with a view to working with local authorities and developers to meeting these objectives.

Sadiq Khan – Labour

+ Khan has pledged to build 10,000 new council homes

+ Give frontline workers priority for new ‘intermediate homes’, where rent is set below 80% of market rents

+ Pilot a City Hall-run housing development scheme to build homes in London

+ Set a target for 50% of all new homes to be ‘genuinely affordable’

Shaun Bailey – Conservative

+ Build 100,000 shared-ownership homes to be sold for £100,000 to first-time buyers’

+ Create a City Hall-controlled developer – half of all residential properties created by this developer would be ‘affordable’

+ Establish a ‘rogue’ landlords database to help boroughs tackle bad landlords

Sian Berry – Green Party

+ Set up a ‘people’s land commission’ to find suitable sites for new homes

+ Establish a ‘rent commission’, freezing private rents until the commission establishes new targets

+ Redefine the London Living Rent by setting a third of local household incomes to take better account of the ‘wage gaps faced by households’

+ Close City Airport and use the area for to build new homes

Luisa Porritt – Liberal Democrats

+ Establish a London housing company to take control of delivering the homes needed in the capital, including bringing empty homes and offices back into use.

+ Ban developers that have failed to take action on building safety defects from working on mayoral housing projects

+ End homelessness, with a focus on giving young people year-round access to shelter