Radical solution to this in London... scrap all council housing in zones 1 and 2... (I can see a need to subsidise housing for key workers centrally and that's about it)sell off all council owned accommodation in those areas, build even more council owned accommodation in less expensive areas further out... Start means testing.
More inner London property becomes available for people who are economically active and have more of a need to be there + rents would be less likely to become inflated as the supply of available accommodation increases. People without a need for social housing can be removed from it. Newer housing can be built to better fit the demand... correct proportion of 1 and 2 bedroom accommodation etc... the building projects in themselves would stimulate growth - do it steadily simply using the proceeds of selling off inner London local authority owned property. Sell off a council block in Westminster and you could acquire land and build at least triple the number of homes on some brown field site further out. Waiting lists come down and property is better targeted towards demand.
Islington, for example, is 50% social housing.... the vast majority of social housing residents are not economically active - there is no real reason for them to have to be sustained in prime central London accommodation when those rather valuable assets could be put to better use by others and the proceeds from selling them used to build more and cut waiting lists. I'm not buying any argument that they can't move a few miles because they grew up in that particular grid square either... Someone not claiming benefits has to move to where they can afford to live or to where they can find work - I don't think its reasonable to subsidise expensive rents in central London nor do I think there is any point in local authorities holding onto expensive assets to house people who are mostly economically inactive.
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