London Local Elections 2018: Homes for Voters

April 2018

In March 2018, London First and Grosvenor commissioned YouGov to survey

Londoners and Councillors in London on their views about housing, particularly in

relation to the local elections in May 2018. This presentation summarises the key

highlights of the survey.

A representative sample of 1,043 Londoners (aged 18+) and 200 London Councillors were surveyed between 13th-2 April.

Summary

1. Ahead of the local elections in May, housing is a key election issue for Londoners and it’s the

number one issue for those who rent

2. 74% of Londoners and 90% of councillors agree there is a shortage of homes in London. With

regard to a shortage in their local area, this falls to 57% for Londoners but stays roughly the same

for councillors at 87%

3. 43% of Londoners would be more favourable towards a politician who supports building more

homes in their local area, but only 29% of councillors believe they would receive more backing

from voters if they supported more housebuilding in their local area

4. Over half of Londoners (57%) think there is a housing shortage in their local area and support new

housing being built locally. 26% of Londoners think no new homes should be built in their local area

5. Most councillors (42%) cite a lack of public funding as the main challenge to building more homes

in their local council area followed by a lack of land (20%)

6. Of those Londoners who oppose more homes being built in their local area, 38% said they’d be

more supportive if more affordable housing was included

Housing influences how Londoners will vote

• Heading in to the local elections, the issues that will help determine how

Londoners vote are Brexit (44%), the NHS (39%) and housing (31%)

• Brexit and health largely fall outside the scope of councils, so the main borough

level concern of Londoners is housing

• This is particularly the case for London’s renters with housing being the top

issue that will determine how they vote

• 39% of 25-49 year olds say housing is a top three issue for them

Housing ranks high as a concern with renters and millennials, as well as with Generations X and Y

22

39

23

17

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

18-24 25-49 50-64 65+

Age

Top 3 concerns for Londoners by age

Britain leaving the EU

Health

Housing15

43

38

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

Own Rent Neither/ Other

Housing status

Top 3 concerns for Londoners by housing status

Britain leaving theEUHealth

Housing

Most Londoners agree there’s a housing shortage…

• 74% of Londoners think there’s a housing shortage, with little variation across

voting intention, age, income level, housing status or location

• Renters (80%) are more likely to think there’s a shortage than home owners (70%)

• 76% of inner Londoners and 74% of outer Londoners agree there’s a housing

shortage

• It’s not an issue confined to lower income earners either, with 73% of wealthier

respondents in grades ABC1 agreeing that London has too few homes

67 75 73 75

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

18-24 25-49 50-64 65+

Do you think there is or is not a housing shortage in London? Answers by age group

Don't know

No

Yes

… and councillors agree there is a housing shortage in London as a whole, as well as in their local area

• Around 90% of councillors believe there is a housing shortage in London as well

as in their local area

90%

6%3%

80%

15%

5%

97%

2% 1%0%

20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

120%

There is a housingshortage in London

There is not a housingshortage in London

Don't know

Councillor recognition of London's housing shortage

Overall

Conservative

Labour

87%

11%

2%

73%

22%

4%

96%

3% 1%0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

80%

90%

100%

There is a housingshortage in my local

area

There is not a housingshortage in my local

area

Don't know

Councillor recognition of housing shortages in their local area

Overall

Conservative

Labour

Who is most responsible for ensuring enough homes are built?

• While Londoners consider housing a top issue going in to the local elections, only

13% consider their council as being most responsible for delivering housing

• 45% of Londoners think government is most responsible, with just 4% seeing

developers as responsible

45%

15%

13%

4%

4%

5%

14%

Who do you consider to be most responsible for ensuring London is building enough homes?

The Government

The Mayor of London

The local council

Housing Associations

Private housebuilders

None of these

Don’t know

Local housing shortages and support more for housebuilding

• Over half Londoners (57%) think there is a housing shortage in their local area and

support new housing being built locally

• 23% of Londoners don’t believe their local area has a shortage of homes and 26%

wouldn’t support more housebuilding in their local area

• 68% of renters believe there is a housing shortage locally and support more

housing being built in their local area

• 63% of inner Londoners and 25-49 year olds support new homes being built locally

• The lowest support for new homes being built locally is from the 65+ and home

owning categories; around 40% said there should be no more new homes built in

their local area

52

63

54

45

56

59

63

54

45

68

24

19

35

43

28

24

20

30

40

15

0 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 80 90 100

18-24

25-49

50-64

65+

ABC1

C2DE

Inner London

Outer London

Own

Rent

Public support for new homes locally

There should be more new homes in my local area There should not be more new homes in my local area Don't know

Votes to be won for building more homes

• 43% of Londoners would feel more favourable towards a local politician who

supported building more homes in their area with only 15% less favourable

• This favorability rises to 51% among inner Londoners and renters, and to 45%+

among the under 50s

4745

41

33

51

39

34

51

42

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

18-24 25-49 50-64 65+ Inner London Outer London Own Rent Neither/ Other

Age Inner/ Outer Housing status

Age, location and housing status: would you be more or less favourable towards a politician who supported building more homes in your local area?

More favourable

Less favourable

No difference

Don't know

• 28% of councillors believe they would receive less support from voters if they were

to support more housebuilding in their local area, yet 43% of Londoners say they

would think more favourably towards a local politician who backed building more

homes in their local area

Councillor’s underestimate the support for building more homes in their local area

29% 28%

39%

5%

12%

58%

27%

3%

42%

11%

43%

3%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

More support Less support About the samelevel of support

Don't know

If you were to consider supporting building more homes in your local council ward, do you think you would receive more, less or about the same level of support from local

voters?

Overall

Conservative

Labour

Councillors perception of the challenges to building more homes in their local area

• 44% of councillors believe a lack of public money is the main challenge to

building more homes followed by 20% saying a lack of available land

42%

20%

7%

27%

65%

14%

0%

10%

20%

30%

40%

50%

60%

70%

Lack of public money to fund housebuilding Lack of available land to build on

The top two challenges to building more homes in your local area, as selected by councillors

Overall

Conservative

Labour

How the housing shortage affects Londoners

• Of those who agree there’s a housing shortage in their local area, when asked how it

was affecting them or their family 41% said an inability to find a suitable place to buy

• For the under 25s, the top three impacts of a housing shortage are being unable to

find a suitable rental property (47%), struggling to pay their rent (34%) and having to

live in over-crowded conditions (28%)

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

18-24 25-49 50-64 65+

Problems in relation to housing by age group

Being unable to find a suitable place to buy

Being unable to find a suitable place to rent

Struggling to keep up with rent payments

Living in over-crowded conditions

Sofa-surfing (going between family and friends homes to sleep)

More affordable housing, community facilities and transport might help to get more homes built

• Among the 26% of Londoners who don’t support more homes being built in their local

area, more affordable housing is cited as the key driver to winning over their support

for new homes followed by improved facilities and new or improved transport

3

3

8

12

18

19

35

36

38

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40

Other

Don’t know

More homes for rent managed by a professional landlord

Availability of a wide variety of homes

Preference for first-time buyers

Good quality homes

New or improved transport

New or improved facilities (e.g. schools)

More affordable housing

Which of the following would make you more supportive of building more homes in your local council area?

London First is a membership organisation, with the mission to make London the best place in the

world for business. We’re focused on keeping our capital working for the whole of the UK. We've

galvanised the business community to bring pragmatic solutions to London's challenges over the

years. Now, we are working on solutions to what our business leaders see as the top priorities for

our capital: talent, housing and transport.

Grosvenor Britain & Ireland creates and manages high quality neighbourhoods that are great

places to live, work and visit. Our diverse property development, management and investment

portfolio includes Grosvenor’s London estate of Mayfair and Belgravia. Our other developments are

elsewhere in London, Oxford, Cambridge, Edinburgh and Southampton. As at 31 December 2017,

Grosvenor Britain & Ireland had £5.2bn of assets under management. We are part of Grosvenor

Group, one of the world's largest privately-owned property businesses, which is active in more than

60 cities around the world.