A soaring population and a lack of affordable housing has led to an overwhelming number of people needing accommodation in London.
Latest figures show that 80% of all new housing built in London is only affordable for 20% of the population.
A new exhibition organised by think-tank, New London Architecture, will exhibit creative solutions for London’s housing shortage.
From floating houses on the Thames, to "cube" designs stacked on top of one another, ideas range from the wonderful to the bizarre, offering an insight into the true extent of London’s housing crisis and how it can be solved.
The NLA competition, set up in association with the Mayor of London, saw submissions from designers, architects, planners, developers, housing associations and decision-makers across the world.
Claire Bennie, architect and housing development specialist, and former development director at Peabody, said: “Scanning the literature about London from the mid-nineteenth century onwards reveals that a housing crisis, whether of supply or affordability, has dogged London since its first industry-inspired expansion.
“The causes and attempted remedies have been different over the 150 intervening years, but the ‘holy grail’ that London’s housing supply should meet its demand in both numbers and quality (including affordability) seems to have eluded all generations including our own.”
Peter Murray, chairman of NLA, added: “If necessity is the mother of invention, right now London should be experiencing a highly creative period as far as housing is concerned. But we aren’t producing enough housing of the right kind in the right places.”
Richard Blakeway, deputy mayor for housing, land and property, added: “We need to build many more new homes in London.
“For decades, the number of homes built has not kept pace with population growth. For many Londoners, housing availability is their greatest concern and addressing the shortage is now one of the biggest challenges facing our city.”
New Ideas for Housing will run alongside an extensive set of talks, debates, site visits and seminars. A major public debate will also be hosted by the NLA in November.