Why Mayoral Authority Matters for Housing Affordability

Across the United Kingdom, city mayors have emerged as pivotal figures in tackling the affordable housing crisis. Unlike the national government’s broad policy levers, mayors operate at the local level, where housing challenges are most acutely felt and where tailored solutions can be designed. Their unique position allows them to coordinate land use, direct public investment, and negotiate with developers and housing associations. As the UK continues to face a shortage of affordable homes, understanding how mayors can — and do — drive change is essential for policymakers, urban planners, and residents alike.

Scaling the Challenge: The Current State of Affordable Housing in UK Cities

Before examining mayors’ specific actions, it is important to appreciate the scale of the problem. According to the National Housing Federation, England alone needs around 145,000 affordable homes each year, yet fewer than 50,000 are currently being delivered. In major cities like London, Manchester, Birmingham, and Bristol, escalating house prices and rising private rents have pushed homeownership out of reach for many middle- and lower-income households. The social housing waiting list stands at over 1.2 million households nationally. These figures underscore why mayoral leadership is not just beneficial but critical.

Housing Stress and the Role of Local Leadership

Localised housing markets demand localised responses. National policies such as Help to Buy or planning reform are important, but they often fail to address the specific conditions of each city. Mayors can act more nimbly: they control local development corporations, influence strategic planning, and can pilot innovative models without waiting for Westminster legislation. This agility is especially valuable in cities where land prices, demographics, and existing housing stock vary enormously.

Key Policy Levers Available to Mayors

Mayors in UK cities — whether directly elected metro mayors (like the Mayor of Greater Manchester or the Mayor of Liverpool City Region) or ceremonial mayors with softer powers — can deploy a range of tools to boost affordable housing supply. The most effective mayors combine several of these levers simultaneously.

Strategic Spatial Planning and Land Assembly

One of the mayor’s strongest levers is influence over the local development plan and strategic housing market assessments. Mayors can identify brownfield sites, designate growth areas, and mandate minimum percentages of affordable housing in new developments through local plan policies. In London, the Mayor’s London Plan requires all new developments to deliver a minimum of 35% affordable housing in schemes of 10 units or more, subject to viability. Similarly, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority has used its spatial framework to prioritise brownfield regeneration and set affordable housing targets across its ten boroughs.

Land assembly — the process of acquiring and consolidating parcels of land for development — is another powerful tool. Mayors can use compulsory purchase orders (CPOs) to bring forward stalled or underused land, particularly when developers are holding onto land banks. Sheffield City Region’s mayor has used CPO powers to unlock sites for mixed-tenure housing. The government’s Levelling Up and Regeneration Act 2023 has also strengthened mayoral compulsory purchase powers, making land assembly for affordable housing more feasible.

Inclusionary Zoning and Developer Contributions

Inclusionary zoning requires private developers to include a proportion of affordable housing in their schemes. In many UK cities, this is achieved through Section 106 agreements — legal obligations attached to planning permissions. Mayors can set clear policies ensuring that negotiations under Section 106 produce meaningful numbers of affordable homes. For instance, the West Midlands Combined Authority’s “Affordable Housing Strategy” sets a target that 20% of all new homes in the region should be affordable, with a higher percentage in developments on publicly owned land. Some mayors have also championed “viability assessments” to ensure developers cannot exploit commercial viability grounds to avoid affordable housing contributions.

Devolution and Fiscal Powers

The devolution deals that granted mayors their powers also gave some the ability to retain a share of business rates and top-up council tax. Mayors can hypothecate these revenues to fund affordable housing programmes. The Mayor of Greater Manchester, Andy Burnham, used devolved funding to establish a Housing Investment Fund that has delivered over 2,000 affordable homes. Similarly, the Liverpool City Region mayor launched a housing-led regeneration programme backed by £44 million of devolved funding. Fiscal devolution is still limited compared to the mayors of US or German cities, but the trend toward greater local fiscal autonomy is likely to continue, giving mayors more direct investment capacity.

Funding Affordable Housing: Mayoral Budget Allocations and Partnership Models

Effective mayoral action requires money. While mayors cannot print money, they can direct existing budgets, attract private investment, and leverage national grants. The following are the main financial mechanisms they use.

Housing Revenue Accounts and Council-Owned Housing

Some mayors oversee combined authorities that include councils with retained housing stock. They can influence Housing Revenue Account (HRA) spending, ensuring that surpluses from existing council housing are reinvested into new build and refurbishment. However, the 2012 HRA self-financing reforms gave each council control over its own HRA, so the mayor’s influence is often indirect through strategic coordination. In cities like Bristol, the mayor has worked with the council to set a higher proportion of HRA surpluses allocated to new social housing.

Housing Accelerator Programmes and Grant Matching

Many mayors have launched local housing accelerator programmes that provide small-scale gap funding or low-cost loans to housing associations and community-led developers. For example, the Mayor of London’s “Building Council Homes for Londoners” programme allocated £4.8 billion over four years to start new council homes. The Mayor of the North of Tyne Combined Authority used a £10 million accelerator fund to de-risk sites for affordable housing. These programmes often require matched funding from housing associations or developers, stretching the impact of mayoral budgets.

Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) and Joint Ventures

Strategic partnerships are key to scaling delivery. Mayors can broker deals between the public sector (local councils, combined authorities) and private developers or institutional investors. The “GM One” joint venture in Greater Manchester brings together the combined authority, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority, and five housing associations to deliver 1,200 mixed-tenure homes. Mayors also use viability gap funding to make schemes that would otherwise be unviable due to high land costs or low sales values financially feasible. This approach has been used by the Liverpool City Region’s Housing Association Grant Programme to bring forward sites in disadvantaged areas.

Community Engagement: Tackling NIMBYism and Building Consensus

Opposition from existing residents — commonly called NIMBYism — remains a significant barrier to new housing, especially for affordable and social homes. Mayors are uniquely positioned to counteract this by leading public conversations and demonstrating the community benefits of affordable housing.

Transparent Planning and Early Consultation

Research by the Centre for Cities shows that early, meaningful engagement reduces later objections. Mayors can mandate that developers hold public exhibitions before planning applications are submitted, and they can ensure that local residents have access to clear information about the affordable housing mix, unit sizes, and tenures. The Mayor of London’s “Good Growth by Design” programme includes a standard for community engagement. In Manchester, the mayor’s office ran a “Great Mancunian Housing Debate” to involve residents in shaping the city’s housing strategy.

Community Land Trusts (CLTs) as a Counter to NIMBYism

One innovative approach that mayors have supported is the expansion of Community Land Trusts — non-profit, locally controlled organisations that develop and manage affordable housing. CLTs are less likely to face local opposition because the community itself is directly involved. The Liverpool City Region mayor has backed CLT projects in Toxteth and Anfield. Bristol’s mayor has provided land and grants to set up a number of CLTs across the city, delivering permanently affordable homes outside the open market.

Mayoral Messaging and Media Leadership

Mayors can use their public platforms to shift the narrative around affordable housing. Rather than framing development as a threat to local character, they can emphasise the social and economic benefits: stable tenancies, reduced homelessness, mixed communities, and local job creation during construction. Strong mayoral leadership can help counter the “them and us” language that often dominates planning debates. For example, the Mayor of the West Midlands has run advertising campaigns to build support for new housing, and the Mayor of London has spoken out repeatedly in favour of increasing social housing on green belt land where appropriate.

Case Studies: Mayors Making a Difference

Several UK mayors have demonstrated that strong local leadership produces measurable results.

Greater Manchester: Andy Burnham’s Housing First Strategy

Since his election in 2017, Andy Burnham has made housing affordability a central pillar of his mayoralty. His Homes for All strategy includes a target of 30,000 affordable homes over five years, backed by a £300 million Housing Investment Fund. The mayor has also pushed for the Regional Homelessness Prevention Grant, a trailblazing approach that combines housing with health and social care support. The strategy has been credited with reducing rough sleeping in the city-region by 10% and delivering over 5,000 affordable homes in the first two years of the strategy.

London: Sadiq Khan’s London Plan and Funding Pipelines

As directly elected mayor of London, Sadiq Khan has used the full weight of the London Plan to ensure that affordable housing delivery is prioritised even during market downturns. His administration increased the London Help to Buy scheme for key workers and established the “Building Council Homes for Londoners” programme, which has started more than 10,000 council homes. The mayor also leveraged the London Housing Strategy to introduce a new definition of affordable housing that includes social rent models. Despite challenges from rising construction costs, the mayor’s approach has kept the affordable housing pipeline active.

Liverpool City Region: Steve Rotheram’s Brownfield-First Approach

Mayor Steve Rotheram has focused on bringing brownfield land back into use for affordable homes. The “Liverpool City Region Brownfield Regeneration Strategy” has unlocked over 100 hectares of contaminated and underused land, supporting more than 2,000 new homes — 60% of which are affordable. By using CPO powers and devolved housing grants, the mayor’s office has speeded up development on sites that had been stalled for years. The approach has also helped meet the region’s environmental goals, as brownfield development reduces pressure on the green belt.

Challenges and Limitations: What Mayors Cannot Do Alone

No mayor can solve the affordable housing crisis single-handedly. Several structural constraints limit their impact.

Dependence on Central Government Funding

Mayors’ housing budgets are overwhelmingly dependent on national grants like the Affordable Homes Programme and the Housing Infrastructure Fund. When central government reduces grant rates or changes eligibility rules, mayoral programmes can stall. The recent freeze of the Affordable Homes Programme for 2023-2024 has left some combined authorities facing funding gaps.

Limited Control Over Private Rented Sector and Social Housing Regulation

Mayors have little authority over the private rented sector, which accounts for a growing share of housing in UK cities. Rents are largely deregulated, and enforcement of quality standards falls to local councils with limited capacity. Similarly, social housing regulation is handled by the Regulator of Social Housing nationally, meaning mayors cannot directly hold rogue housing associations to account.

Planning Viability and Developer Obstruction

Developers may use viability assessments to reduce affordable housing contributions, and the government’s current Guidance prohibits local authorities from requiring affordable housing on sites under 10 units. Mayors can push back through stronger local policies, but they often face legal challenges from landowners. The Greater London Authority has been taken to court multiple times over the London Plan’s affordable housing thresholds.

Looking Ahead: The Future of Mayoral Housing Leadership

With ongoing devolution deals and the government’s commitment to “levelling up,” mayors are likely to gain more tools. The Levelling Up White Paper (2022) proposed allowing combined authorities to retain 100% of business rates and to introduce mayoral development corporations with stronger compulsory purchase powers. Some commentators have called for mayors to be given borrowing powers for housing directly, similar to the way the Housing Finance Corporation already works with some combined authorities.

Another emerging trend is the integration of housing with net-zero retrofit programmes. Mayors in cities like Bristol and Manchester are linking affordable housing to climate goals, using green finance to improve energy efficiency in social housing and new builds. This could unlock additional funding streams from the UK Infrastructure Bank and private investors who are increasingly interested in sustainability-linked projects.

Conclusion: A Central Role with room to Grow

The evidence is clear: mayors in UK cities hold a critical position in advancing affordable housing. Through strategic planning, resource allocation, community engagement, and partnerships, they can make a tangible difference in the quantity and quality of affordable homes delivered. While they are not omnipotent — and face real fiscal and legal constraints — their proximity to local needs and their ability to coordinate across multiple stakeholders makes them indispensable. As the government explores deeper devolution, the role of the mayor will only grow. For now, the most successful mayors are those who combine political will with practical toolkits, transparency with conviction, and a long-term vision with relentless day-to-day delivery.

For further reading, see the Levelling Up White Paper (GOV.UK), the Centre for Cities analysis of housing policy, and the National Housing Federation’s affordable housing statistics.