Mayor allocates £58.7m to retrofit up to 5,000 social homes in London

The Mayor announced £58.7m on 22 July to improve the energy efficiency of up to 5,000 social rented homes in London.

The money comes from the Home Energy Saving Fund, run by the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero. The release states that it is London's share of a £295m national retrofit package for social housing, and the first devolved funding of its kind. That share is about a fifth of the national total.

The 5,000 is a ceiling. If the full 5,000 homes are reached, that is about £11,700 a home; fewer homes would mean more per home.

The release sets the money in a longer programme: "£231m funding has been allocated for London between 2025-2028 which is estimated to retrofit approximately 10,385 low income homes." That works out at about £22,200 a home. The release does not say whether the £58.7m sits inside that £231m.

The work covers insulation, solar panels, heat pumps and ventilation. The release puts the saving at up to £500 a year on a household's energy bills, and the carbon reduction at 107 kilotonnes.

The Mayor has funded this work before on a smaller scale. The release states that he "committed £10m to develop Warmer Homes London (WHL) over three years, in partnership with London Councils", and that over 1,000 homes have been retrofitted through it.

The release gives the scale of the problem: 10% of Londoners live in fuel poverty, and about 1 million London homes are at high risk of overheating.

Sadiq Khan said: "Thousands of Londoners are living in inadequate homes that are freezing and damp in winter and unbearably hot during summer heatwaves. With this new funding, we can transform these homes for the future, making them more energy efficient, while also driving down bills."

The release states that the money is for London local authorities and housing associations. It does not say when the work starts or ends, how a landlord applies, or how the £58.7m divides between councils and housing associations.

The GLA has not yet published a decision authorising the spending. Its decisions register, sorted by date signed and checked on 14 August, lists 20 decisions signed between 29 June and 5 August, from rough sleeping services to July's fare changes, and none of them covers retrofit or the Home Energy Saving Fund.