London Mayoral Hustings, London — Zac Goldsmith, Siân Berry, Sadiq Khan and Caroline Pidgeon taking part in London mayoral hustings. Photograph: REX/Shutterstock

Where do four leading London mayoral candidates stand on housing?

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The biggest issue for Londoners is housing. We ask Siân Berry, Zac Goldsmith, Sadiq Khan and Caroline Pidgeon to reveal their housing policies

A YouGov poll from March 2016 showed that housing is the top political concern for the capital’s voters. When asked to choose three policy areas they thought should be the greatest priority for the next London mayor, 67% of those polled chose housing, with transport coming second at 51%. The concern about housing is shared across social classes, with 67% of those classed in the ABC1 social grade – the middle classes – voicing concern about housing, almost matching the 68% in the C2DE band – the working classes.

The poll showed a slight disparity between genders: 71% of women were concerned about housing, compared with 64% of men. While 62% of people intending to vote for Zac Goldsmith said they were concerned about housing, 82% of those planning to vote for Sadiq Khan reported the issue was a priority for them.

In terms of age, the greatest level of concern was among those aged 25-39, at 73%. We asked candidates from the four parties that polled highest in the 2012 mayoral race to outline their housing policies for London.

Siân Berry: ‘It’s not OK to tell council tenants to move out of London’

Sian Berry, Green candidate. Photograph: Felix Clay/The Guardian

The Green party candidate’s policies include setting up a tenants’ union to improve rights for private renters in the capital, maintaining the current Olympic precept added to Londoners’ council tax bill and using the revenue generated for housebuilding. Read more here.

Zac Goldsmith: ‘I’m the only candidate talking up estate regeneration’

Zac Goldsmith, Conservative candidate. Photograph: Jack Taylor/AFP/Getty Images

The Conservative party’s mayoral hopeful is strongly committed to protecting the green belt from development. He believes that regenerating estates is the way forward, both to increase capacity and the quality of social housing in the capital. He also proposes channeling overseas investors’ cash into housebuilding, rather than off-plan purchasing of homes. Read more here.

Sadiq Khan: ‘As mayor I’ll give first dibs on housing to Londoners’

Sadiq Khan, Labour candidate. Photograph: David Levene/The Guardian

Labour’s candidate wants half of all new homes built to be affordable, pegged to local average earnings, and says he’ll make sure new homes must be offered to Londoners first, not sold off-plan overseas. Khan also wants to see more sub-market housing built for teachers, medical staff and other key workers. Read more here.

Caroline Pidgeon: ‘The Lib Dems want renters to have the strong hand’

Caroline Pidgeon, Liberal Democrat candidate. Photograph: London Liberal Democrats

The Liberal Democrat candidate wants to keep the Olympic precept, and she wants to build 50,000 council homes and create a City Hall-based lettings agency that circumvents estate agent fees and provides a kitemark accreditation for private landlords. Read more here.

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