Labour has talked big on housing and planning reform, but the figures don’t lie, writes Emma Revell

As someone who spends a fair bit of time thinking and talking about our housing crisis, I’m pretty unshockable. Lousy landlords, horrible housemates, bedrooms the size of postage stamps, ‘well we just need rent control actually’, I’ve heard it all.

But sometimes you come across a piece of data so bad you just have to stop and take it in.

In the last financial year, just 4,170 new homes began construction in London. That is a 72 per cent reduction from the previous financial year.

4,170.

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In a city with 9m people. In a city where London councils estimate 210,000 Londoners – including over 100,000 children – are homeless and living in temporary accommodation. Where over 300,000 households are on waiting lists for social housing. Where the average rent for a one-bedroom property is over £1,300 a month in all central London areas, and over £1,100 in all but three parts of outer London.

Every year since 1946, London has seen the completion of over 10,000 homes, according to my colleagues at the

© City A.M.