NO ONE can criticise the sentiments of Richard Blakeway and Boris Johnson in their attempt to bring 1,300 currently empty properties back into use ('Boris Tackling Homes Blight' - Letters, April 16, 2009).
The mayor's allocation of £22million of government funds to repair derelict HOmes can only be welcomed and will certainly earn the mayor and Mr Blakeway warm headlines.
I Hope that the mayor will apply similar imagination and innovation to actually solving the problem of London's Housing shortage.
One thousand, three hundred homes being brought back into use is good news, but will not do anything
to help people currently on London Boroughs housing waiting lists - the National Housing Federation estimates that almost a million people will be waiting for a home by next year. Furthermore, the actual number of homes in London empty for six months or longer is estimated at around 35,000 - the mayor's efforts really are a drop in the ocean.
I don't dispute that current proposals for empty homes are a worthwhile exercise.
But as well as spending a large amount of cash on renovating a relatively small number of properties, the mayor needs to make sure he has a realistic strategy for delivering the 50,000 new affordable homes he has promised.
A year in and the mayor has yet to even agree how many homes London's councils will each provide over the next three years, yet alone deliver.
It is also essential that he works with the necessary agencies to support the construction industry during these lean economic times to protect jobs.
NICKY GAVRON AM
London Assembly
Labour group spokesman housing and planning
