This study examines how affordable housing has been provided in London and in particular what role land-use planning has played in its provision. It also examines what problems currently exist and how policies are changing in response to these problems. The study points to the need for a wide ranging analysis, particularly that relating to the resource cost of housing provision in different areas which it sees as lying at the heart of the problem of affordability. It concludes by pointing the way towards those mechanisms by which affordable housing might be provided in London during the 1990s.