Mayor of London Boris Johnson has taken steps to abolish London’s 50% affordable housing target after pledging in May to remove it for being too prescriptive. The Greater London Authority (GLA) has written to every London borough proposing an indicative target for affordable housing delivery over the next three years, based on what is achievable for the individual borough. The proposals take into consideration local housing capacity, recent affordable housing delivery and any existing target commitments. According to the GLA, the mayor wishes to take a more “collaborative approach” to working with boroughs as this will deliver the affordable housing that London needs. <br><br>The mayor will include his commitment to the target in his draft London Housing Strategy and will alter his London Plan so that the 50% target is removed. The Home Builders Federation (HBF) commented that it supported the mayor’s flexible approach to negotiating targets, but it sounded a note of caution over the possible effect of each borough having its own target. James Stevens, HBF’s strategic planner, explained: “Separately negotiated affordable housing targets could lead to a downward pressure on overall housing numbers by outer boroughs either setting targets too high so that development becomes unviable, or …