The key to solving London’s housing crisis lies in the 2012 Olympic Games

First of all, we have to bring housebuilding under the direct control of the mayor

“Isles of Wonder”, Danny Boyle’s masterpiece, captivated the world three years ago today. The opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics represented everything that was great about the Games: openness, self-confidence and unblemished, almost childlike joy – all fuelled by our own delight that, when the pressure is on, Britain can still produce the very best in the world.

That success was built on two things, the Olympic spirit and Olympic delivery.

The Olympic spirit was there for all to feel: a city and a nation pulled together. But if the spirit created the magic, it was the delivery that made it happen. The Games were a triumph of the British soul because, more prosaically, they were a triumph of organisation.

Today, London faces a challenge every bit as demanding – the housing crisis. The solution lies in translating that Olympic spirit and Olympic delivery for today.

First, the Olympic spirit: a strong vision and shared purpose. My vision is clear – every Londoner should have a place to call home. That’s how we’ll build One London. London must not become a city where nurses, teachers and carers can’t afford to live in the communities they serve, or where the young are driven out by the eye-watering expense of setting out on their own.

We all have a stake in making this work. But it’s not enough to care, we have to act. People won’t believe politicians’ boastful promises and rightly so. There must be a real, deliverable plan.

I’ll admit I couldn’t have done this job 20 years ago. But today I’m confident the lessons of the Olympics hold the key. Here’s how.

First, we have to bring housebuilding under the direct control of the capital’s mayor. If elected, I would establish “Homes for Londoners”, to get the city building again for the first time in decades – starting on the mayor’s own land.

Through Transport for London, the mayor owns enough land to fill the entire borough of Camden. And that’s just for starters. Other parts of the public sector can deliver housebuilding capacity, too: Network Rail, the NHS, the Ministry of Defence and local authorities. Where we can, we should build on that land – both rent-to-buy properties to help first-time buyers afford a home without the need for unaffordable deposits, as well as high-quality and genuinely affordable rented accommodation and social homes to preserve and renew the mixed communities that make London so great.

How? Through the very delivery model that built the Olympics. Instead of relying on a developer, we created the Olympic Delivery Authority to produce the plans and set expectations. We then hired the best people in the world to form a partner organisation responsible for managing construction. This provided the necessary management infrastructure to set new standards in construction, allowing us to invest in the training and skills of those on site, reducing the overall number of contractors by 6,000 and saving hundreds of millions of pounds.

This is how we can get City Hall building again. And it’s working already. There’s a place where the Olympics and great housing development overlap – it’s called East Village. Once the Athletes’ Village during the Games, now it has quality housing, with 50 per cent of the homes classed as affordable. It’s home to carers, single mothers, academics and sales assistants, and it’s officially the best new place to live in London.

As Mayor of London, I would make tackling the housing crisis my number one priority. By harnessing the Olympic spirit and Olympic delivery, I’m confident that, just like three years ago, together we’ll get the job done.