Lambeth Council Opposes Mayor’s Affordable Housing Cut, 2026

Key Points

• Lambeth councillors voted on Wednesday evening to oppose the Mayor of London’s decision to cut the affordable-housing requirement on major developments from 35% to 20%.
• The borough has more than 28,500 families on the housing waiting list and over 4,500 households in temporary accommodation, at a cost of more than £100m a year.
• Councillors backed a Green motion supporting the judicial challenge brought by Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Lewisham against the Mayor’s “Fast Track” threshold reduction.
• The motion also backed Andy Burnham’s stated intention to divert the entire affordable-housing programme to social-rent council homes, while a Liberal Democrat amendment warned this could cut supply delivered by housing associations.
• Petition thresholds were lowered: signatures needed to trigger a Full Council debate fall from 3,000 to 1,000, and to summon a senior council officer from 1,500 to 750, alongside a lower bar for deputations.
• In separate motions, councillors backed not implementing the draft EHRC code “insofar as it is exclusionary” to trans people, subject to legal advice, and passed a Liberal Democrat motion requiring tenant sign-off before repairs contractors are paid.

Lambeth (South London News) July 17, 2026 – Lambeth councillors voted on Wednesday evening to formally oppose the Mayor of London’s decision to cut the affordable-housing requirement on major developments, at a full council meeting dominated by the borough’s housing crisis.

With more than 28,500 families on the housing waiting list and over 4,500 in temporary accommodation – at a cost of more than £100m a year – a Green motion opposed the Mayor’s move to lower the “Fast Track” affordable-housing threshold on major schemes from 35% to 20%, and backed the judicial challenge brought by Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Lewisham.

As reported by journalists at Brixton Buzz, the council’s motion also backed Andy Burnham’s stated intention to divert the entire affordable-housing programme to social-rent council homes, though a Liberal Democrat amendment cautioned that funding council homes alone could cut the supply of social-rent homes built by housing associations.

Councillors also agreed to lower the borough’s petition thresholds, with the number of signatures needed to trigger a debate at Full Council falling from 3,000 to 1,000, and to summon a senior council officer from 1,500 to 750, alongside a lower bar for deputations.

How severe is Lambeth’s housing crisis according to council data?

Lambeth’s housing pressure is acute, with more than 28,500 families on the waiting list and over 4,500 households in temporary accommodation, at a cost exceeding £100m annually. In a social media post, Lambeth Council stated:

“In Lambeth, we have 4,500 homeless families in need of temporary accommodation, at a cost of over £100million a year. That’s £280,000 every night. This is stretching our budget.”

Housing Digital reported that Lambeth now supports over 4,600 households in temporary accommodation each night, a 50% increase over the last two years, with 2,900 households for more than two years and over 1,500 for more than five years.

As reported by the council’s Cabinet member blog in 2024, almost 160 homeless households sought emergency housing help in a single week, joining the 4,600 families already in temporary accommodation, while more than 40,000 households were on the waiting list for social housing at that time.

The blog added that the cost of temporary accommodation had risen sharply, with some nightly placements doubling in price in 12 months, and an additional £28m being spent on temporary accommodation that year alone.

Which councils are challenging the Mayor’s affordable-housing policy in court?

Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Lewisham have launched a legal challenge to stop the Mayor of London’s planned cut to the affordable-housing quota from 35% to 20%. As reported by Lewisham Council, the three authorities jointly filed a claim for a Judicial Review of the Mayor’s decision to adopt the Time Limited Route (TLR) “emergency” measures, which mean new developments with 20% affordable housing would no longer have to provide evidence to justify such low levels, down from 35%.

Lambeth, Southwark, Waltham Forest and Haringey councils are formally supporting the legal challenge, bringing the total number of London councils backing the action to seven. As reported by Waltham Forest Council:

“We strongly support the principle that major developments in our city should provide, at a minimum, 35 per cent affordable housing.”

Lambeth Council wrote a letter in support to Tower Hamlets, stating:

“We have more than 29,000 people on our housing waiting list and more than 4,275 homeless households living in often poor-quality temporary accommodation because of this shortage. It’s a real crisis.”

What other motions were passed at Lambeth’s full council meeting?

In brief, councillors backed a Green motion not to implement the draft EHRC code “insofar as it is exclusionary” to trans people, subject to legal advice.

As reported by the Lambeth Liberal Democrat Group, interim guidance published by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) has suggested that trans women should not be permitted to use women’s facilities, and trans men should not be permitted to use men’s facilities, in workplaces and services open to the public.

The Lib Dem motion affirmed support for trans, non-binary, and gender-diverse residents and called on Government and Parliament to legislate to restore the rights of trans people.

Councillors also passed a Liberal Democrat motion requiring tenant sign-off before repairs contractors are paid. As reported by Brixton Buzz, the motion at Full Council will allow residents to sign off not just housing repairs but also missed appointments and communal repairs, with the Lib Dems saying they will expand this to cover leaseholders too.

Currently, Lambeth Council is rolling out a system whereby tenants are sent a text message after a repair, asking if they are satisfied; if they say “no,” the repair automatically becomes a live job again. The Lib Dems want to add missed appointments to the scheme, bring in communal repairs, and give councillors a formal right to make representations if a resident refuses to sign off a second time.

How did petition rules change after years of no qualifying petitions?

Councillors agreed to lower the borough’s petition thresholds, with the number of signatures needed to trigger a debate at Full Council falling from 3,000 to 1,000, and to summon a senior council officer from 1,500 to 750, alongside a lower bar for deputations.

The change follows four years in which no petition reached the chamber – the only one to qualify, the Lambeth4Divestment petition, was ruled out of order.

As reported by Brixton Buzz in January 2026, Lambeth Council ignored a petition signed by 5,000 Lambeth residents, workers and students calling for divestment of the pension fund from complicity with Israel’s actions in Gaza, with the petition ruled out of order.

The new thresholds are intended to make it easier for residents to bring issues to the council’s attention and to hold senior officers to account.

Background of the particular development

The Mayor of London’s decision to cut the affordable-housing requirement on major developments from 35% to 20% was adopted under the Time Limited Route (TLR) “emergency” measures, which allow lower affordable-housing levels without the usual evidence requirements.

Tower Hamlets, Hackney and Lewisham launched a judicial review challenge, arguing the changes would reduce the number of affordable homes built and that there was no proper justification or fair consultation. Lambeth, Southwark, Waltham Forest and Haringey formally supported the challenge, citing the detrimental impacts on their ability to deliver high levels of affordable housing.

Andy Burnham has pledged to oversee

“the biggest council house building programme since the post-war period”,

with £39bn earmarked over the next decade for subsidised housing for social rent in England.

The Telegraph reported that meeting post-war levels of council housebuilding could cost £28bn in a single year, with most funding coming from long-term loans to councils, Right to Buy profits or private investment rather than direct taxation.

Lambeth’s own housing pressures have intensified, with temporary accommodation costs exceeding £100m a year and waiting lists remaining in the tens of thousands.

Explore More Lambeth Council News

Lambeth Council Designates Brixton Village as ACV – Brixton, 2026

Lambeth Celebrates Somali Community with Town Hall Reception 2026

Prediction: How this development can affect Lambeth residents and Londoners on housing lists

If the judicial review succeeds, the Mayor’s reduced “Fast Track” threshold could be overturned, potentially restoring the 35% affordable-housing requirement on major developments and preserving the pipeline of affordable units in Lambeth and across London.

For Lambeth residents on the waiting list and the 4,500-plus households in temporary accommodation, maintaining higher affordable-housing quotas could, over time, increase the supply of genuinely affordable homes and reduce reliance on costly temporary placements.

If the challenge fails, the lower 20% threshold may lead to fewer affordable homes being delivered on major sites, potentially prolonging waiting times and keeping temporary accommodation costs high for the council and its residents.

Burnham’s proposed council-house programme, if implemented at scale, could expand social-rent supply, though the Liberal Democrat amendment’s warning suggests that focusing solely on council homes might reduce the role of housing associations in delivering social-rent units.

For Lambeth’s tenants and leaseholders, the new tenant sign-off rules on repairs could improve accountability and reduce payments for unsatisfactory work, while lower petition thresholds may make it easier for residents to raise concerns and influence council decisions.