Mayor of London candidate Sadiq Khan's 'affordable' housing policy is "unrealistic", according to the Federation of Master Builders (FMB).

The organisation said while Khan's focus on the construction skills crisis is welcomed, his 50% 'affordable' housing target is "entirely unworkable".

FMB Chief Executive, Brian Berry, said: "Khan is right to link the housing crisis with the construction skills crisis. The growing shortage of talented tradespeople is widely recognised as one of the greatest barriers to house building and no amount of funding or target setting will work if the talent isn't there to actually get the homes built.

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"However, Khan's 50% affordable housing target is entirely unworkable – as has been observed by others that, 50% of nothing is nothing, and this is a particularly pertinent issue for small developers.

"We urge the Labour candidate to introduce a small site exemption, similar to that which Central Government is bringing forward in its Housing and Planning Bill. This recognises that placing unrealistic affordable housing demands on small sites will leave thousands of projects across the city unviable and hugely increase the barriers to growth of smaller developers."

(LM/CD)