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Sadiq Khan today announced a £1.7 billion deal with councils and housing associations to start building an extra 50,000 affordable homes.

The new dwellings, which will be available to rent and buy, will be built across all 33 London local authorities over the next four years.

It follows the Mayor’s first call for bids for the record £3.15 billion affordable homes fund announced by the Government last year.

Mr Khan has pledged to build 90,000 new affordable homes by 2020/21 and today’s announcement helps put him on course to deliver that.

City Hall said the figure is almost treble the 18,000 homes secured by former mayor Boris Johnson in his final call for bids.

The Mayor has, however, inherited a total 30,000 allocations from his predecessor and has a further £446 million to invest.

The new homes will be delivered by 44 housing providers including private developers, housing associations and nine London councils.

Of the total, 17,500 will be for rent around social levels, and just under 32,000 will be for shared ownership or the Mayor’s living rent.

This should help middle-income earners in the capital save for a deposit by charging rent based on a third of average local incomes.

Mr Khan said: “I want to see everyone playing their part in tackling the housing crisis in London because it is simply unacceptable that Londoners continue to be priced out of the city they call home.

“We know that solving the housing crisis is not going to happen overnight, but I very much welcome so many housing associations and councils committing to build the new and genuinely affordable homes Londoners so desperately need.

“But I am clear that we have got much more to do to secure the land we need to build homes and ensure we have sufficient capacity in the construction industry”.

Sites have already been identified and bought for almost half the 49,398 homes meaning work can begin on those almost immediately.

Of these, 1,911 will be in Newham, 1,823 in Ealing, 1,585 in Barnet, 1,448 in Lambeth and 1,314 in Southwark.

New homes built by housing associations will deliver at least 60 per cent affordable housing across their sites.

Paul Hackett, chair of the G15 which represents London’s largest housing associations, said: “The partnership with the mayor is the biggest London’s housing associations have ever committed to, reflecting the urgency of the housing crisis.”

Sir Steve Bullock of London Councils added: “Councils are doing their utmost to tackle the housing crisis which, without action, will result in those providing vital services in our communities being forced to move out of the city”.