(Bloomberg) -- London Mayor Sadiq Khan, who launched his re-election campaign for a third term on Monday, pledged to build 40,000 new council homes by the end of the decade as part of efforts to address a housing shortage in the city. 

Khan faces voters on May 2 and has called for the “greatest council homebuilding drive in a generation,” echoing opposition leader Keir Starmer, who announced his plan to “get Britain building again” at the Labour Party Conference in October. Starmer appeared in support of Khan at an event in Westminster on Monday. 

Both Labour — the party Khan belongs to — and the ruling Conservative Party have made housing a key battleground before national elections due by January 2025. The government has repeatedly struggled to meet its target of delivering 300,000 homes annually across the UK even as the crisis worsens on rising demand. Similarly, Khan has faced criticism from Conservatives for falling short of goals for London.

Read More: Britain’s Chronic Housing Shortage Is About to Get Even Worse

The UK will need to build almost 400,000 dwellings annually over the next five years to factor in stronger population growth, as well as the homes that would have been built had the targets since 2019 been met, according to calculations by Bloomberg News. 

Khan has blamed the government’s overly ambitious targets as well as under-investment, and on Monday, defended his housing record, saying that 60% of the homes they started had been completed. 

“This is with us rowing against the tide of a Tory government,” Khan told Sky News. “Imagine, with the wind of a Labour government at our backs, a new generation of council homes which is good for the families, but also creates jobs, wealth and prosperity.”

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