G15 urges Chancellor to give London greater control over housing investment, unlock affordable homes and cut homelessness costs

London should be allowed to keep 25% of the Stamp Duty generated in the capital to help tackle its housing crisis, according to proposals from the G15 group of London's largest housing associations.

The proposal, worth around £1.3bn a year based on 2024/25 receipts, would create a dedicated fund for permanent social housing and homelessness prevention. Over the past decade, allowing London to retain 25% of the Stamp Duty generated in the capital would have raised around £11bn for investment in social housing and tackling homelessness.

Meanwhile, London boroughs currently spend more than £5m every day on temporary accommodation, with more than 100,000 children among the 210,000 Londoners living in temporary housing.

In its submission ahead of the Chancellor's Budget on 28 October, the G15 warns that London's housing crisis is holding back economic growth and making it harder for employers and public services to recruit and retain workers.

Alongside Stamp Duty retention, the G15 is calling for:

• Greater devolution: Give London more control over housing funding, public land and skills investment, with certainty over its share of the £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme.

• More affordable homes: Protect existing funding commitments and speed up access to low-interest loans to help housing associations build.

• Shared ownership reform: Review the £90,000 London household income cap, unchanged since 2016, and pilot discounted mortgage rates to help shared owners buy more of their homes. G15 modelling suggests the latter could unlock £7.1bn for investment in new and existing homes over five years.

• Action on homelessness and living costs: Restore Local Housing Allowance to reflect current rents, reform temporary accommodation funding and remove the household benefit cap.

• Investment in existing homes: Protect funding for energy efficiency improvements and reduce the VAT costs of maintaining and improving social housing.

Ian McDermott, G15 Chair and Chief Executive of Peabody, said: “The government has made an important long-term commitment to social and affordable housing. The next step is making sure London has the certainty and flexibility to turn that commitment into homes.

“London’s housing crisis is increasingly an economic problem as well as a social one. If people who work in the capital can’t afford to live here, that affects employers, public services and London’s ability to support growth across the country.

“The Budget is an opportunity to give London more of the tools it needs. That includes greater control over housing investment and allowing the capital to reinvest some of the revenues its housing market generates in permanent homes rather than continuing to spend billions managing homelessness.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

New homes at St John's Hill, Clapham [https://tinyurl.com/sbdxaw6z] (built by Peabody) and aerial view here [https://tinyurl.com/3jkzu963]

(please credit Andy Stagg @studiostagg)

Read the full G15 Budget submission: [https://g15.london/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/26-09-09-G15-budget-submission-final.pdf]

Further research: G15's A city that works for everyone report includes analysis, statistics and polling on how social housing supports London's economy, workforce and communities. Findings include the £27.8bn annual economic contribution of social housing residents and the fact that 65% of employed social housing residents work in key worker occupations. Read the report and access supporting research [https://tinyurl.com/4y7p92vk].

About the G15: G15 represents 11 of London's largest not-for-profit housing associations, providing social and affordable homes for around one in 10 Londoners. Its members typically deliver one in four new homes in the capital. https://g15.london

On Stamp Duty:

• £5.14bn: total Stamp Duty generated in London in 2024/25.

• £1.285bn: what London would have retained at 25%.

• Around £11bn: what retaining 25% would have generated cumulatively over the previous decade, according to the earlier G15 material.

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