Brent will benefit from hundreds of new council homes after it was awarded a £65 million grant by the Mayor of London.

Sadiq Khan has put aside a £1 billion pot to help build more houses for social rent across the capital.

Brent Council was awarded the fifth-highest amount of funding, which will help build 817 homes in the borough.

Cllr Eleanor Southwood, responsible for housing and welfare reform at Brent Council, said: “This is fantastic news from the mayor.

“Brent is committed to tackling homelessness and providing suitable and affordable homes to those who are most in need, so any opportunity to help us with this is greatly welcomed.

“The nationwide housing crisis has been decades in the making and it won’t be easy to solve but this is definitely a very welcome announcement.

“We now need the Government to match the ambition of local councils such as ours and help us to get housebuilding again.”

The council will contribute a further £181 million to the scheme to cover the overall building costs.

In 2016/17, several London councils, including Brent, did not start nor complete any houses available for social rent.

The council explained that this is partly due to “government restrictions and rigid limits on their powers and borrowing”.

Mr Khan said that this announcement would go some way towards tackling the city’s housing problems.

He said: “London’s housing crisis is hugely complex and has been decades in the making.

“There is no simple fix – but council housing is the most important part of the solution.

“Londoners need more council homes that they can genuinely afford, and local authorities have a fundamental role to play in getting London building the homes we need for the future.”