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Politicians on city council’s planning committee will be asked to start crafting an affordable housing plan to help fill the gaps in the market and spur developers to build places where more Londoners can afford to live.

A hot-button election issue, London’s affordable housing — or lack thereof — generated interest at debates and cracked a number of candidates’ election platforms.

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The city is already facing a long wait list and backlog of needed repairs for its public housing stock — rent-geared-to-income properties — but there are also thousands of other residents struggling to keep up with the prices of apartments and homes.

London is a city with some of the highest “core housing needs” in the province, said Travis Macbeth, a planner with the city.

“We often get compared to Toronto . . . this is one of the largest cities with one of the biggest needs,” he said.

A few months ago, council directed staff to put together a list of all the political tools at its disposal to spur new affordable housing units. The document coming to the planning committee Monday evening outlines those options, and recommends staff be directed to create a more specific plan.