Hackney Must Deliver 1,050 Affordable Homes Yearly Under New Bill

The Housing Delivery Bill, which received royal assent in June 2026, requires Hackney and 150 other English local authorities to meet fixed annual targets for affordable housing or lose access to certain central government grants. The change directly affects planning applications and land allocations inside the borough boundaries.

The legislation arrives as Hackney recorded 12,450 households on its social housing waiting list in the council's March 2026 report. National housing statistics released by the Office for National Statistics in May showed average private rents in the borough rising 7 percent over the previous twelve months.

Target comparisons across English cities

The bill's schedule of targets lists Hackney at 1,050 units per year. That matches the figure set for Leeds and sits 150 units below the requirement for Birmingham. Bristol faces the same 1,050-unit annual floor. Liverpool's target stands at 980 units. The figures appear in the explanatory notes published alongside the bill on the UK Parliament website.

Residents applying for social housing in Hackney may see new sites come forward in Dalston and Homerton wards where the council holds development land. The legislation states that councils must approve at least 70 percent of qualifying affordable schemes within 13 weeks or record the delay in quarterly returns to the Ministry of Housing.

The government projects that the targets will remain in place until 2031. Hackney Council must publish its first progress report against the new benchmark in January 2027. Any shortfall of more than 10 percent in a single year triggers a review of the borough's housing revenue account by central government officials.