G15 asks Chancellor to let London keep 25% of stamp duty for £1.3bn-a-year housing fund

The G15 group of London housing associations has asked the Chancellor to let the capital keep 25% of the stamp duty raised there, creating a Housing and Homelessness Investment Fund worth about £1.3bn a year for permanent social housing.

The proposal is the centrepiece of the group's autumn Budget submission to HM Treasury, titled Housing London to support growth in every postcode.

The G15 said the £1.3bn figure is based on 2024/25 stamp duty receipts. It said about 210,000 Londoners, including more than 100,000 children, are living in temporary accommodation, and that investing in permanent social homes would reduce reliance on that accommodation.

Ian McDermott, Chair of the G15, said: "But the housing crisis is making it harder for people to live and work in the capital, with consequences for businesses, public services and the wider economy."

The other asks

Beyond the stamp duty fund, the submission calls for full devolution of London's share of the government's £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme, together with faster access to low-interest loans.

It seeks reforms to shared ownership so that more residents can buy a larger share of their home, releasing capital for the associations to reinvest.

The G15 also wants greater flexibility over public land, property taxation and skills funding, long-term funding to improve the energy efficiency and quality of existing homes, and changes to housing benefit and temporary accommodation funding to help prevent homelessness and ease pressure on council finances.

McDermott said: "Our proposals are about building on those foundations, making better use of existing resources and giving London the tools to tackle homelessness."

The government framework

The submission builds on commitments the government has already set out. According to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, the 10-year £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme aims to deliver around 300,000 social and affordable homes over its lifetime, with at least 60% for Social Rent.

Up to 30% of the funding, up to £11.7bn over the 10 years, will be delivered by the Greater London Authority for use in London, the department said. Housing Secretary Steve Reed cited that £11.7bn figure when responding to G15 research in July.

The department has also doubled the social housing rent settlement from five to 10 years and will permit rents to rise by CPI+1% a year from April 2026. The G15 welcomed the settlement and rent convergence as a foundation for future delivery.

Under convergence, Social Rent homes currently below formula rent could rise by an additional amount each year above the CPI+1% limit until they reach formula rent. The government's consultation sought views on whether that additional amount should be £1 or £2 a week.

The economic case

The G15 draws on its July research, A city that works for everyone, which found social housing residents contribute £27.8bn in economic output to London's economy every year, with 65% of those in work employed in key worker occupations.

The analysis was produced by the Centre for Economics and Business Research, which worked with Opinium on a survey of 1,000 London residents in spring 2026. It found London's social homes create around £20bn of social value each year and that residents contribute more than £9 to the economy for every £1 received in housing benefit.

G15 members own or manage more than 880,000 homes across the country. The group said members have delivered more than 109,000 new homes since 2016 and invested £8.8bn in maintaining and improving residents' homes since 2020. In London, members have delivered more than 32,000 new social and affordable homes in recent years, with a further 10,000 in the pipeline for 2025-26.

Boroughs lobby the same Budget

London Councils, which represents the capital's boroughs, has made its own Budget submission. In September 2026 it said one in 50 Londoners is homeless and living in temporary accommodation, and that boroughs face a cumulative budget shortfall of £5.2bn between now and 2030. It is seeking an end to the temporary accommodation subsidy gap.

London Councils reported that boroughs spent £5.5m a day on homelessness in 2024-25. Cllr Claire Holland, Chair of London Councils, said in September 2025 that boroughs were spending £5m a day on temporary accommodation specifically.

The G15's full submission is available on its website ahead of the Chancellor's autumn Budget.