Affordable Housing in London: Needs and Provision, Aspirations and Realities focuses on London. London’s sheer size, as well as its economic and political importance mean that it has a housing system that is qualitatively different to other parts of the UK. This paper examines the role of affordable, and particularly, social rented housing within that system. It looks at evidence about the scale of housing need and housing supply in the city, the and also at the longer-term housing aspirations of less well-off Londoners.