Sixteen London housing schemes have been saved following a review after the coalition government cut the Homes and Communities Agency’s (HCA) budget by £450 million. <br> <br> More than £51.7 million is being provided for seven former Kickstart schemes and nine local authority new build schemes, the latter of which will provide 146 new rented homes for 665 people, HCA said. <br> <br> Each local authority scheme is expected to contribute to London mayor Boris Johnson’s target of 50,000 new affordable homes by March 2012. <br> <br> The mayor said: “Housing must remain a priority which is why we have rescued these schemes from the spectre of the credit crunch and delivered the cash needed to get construction up and running but at less cost to the public purse.”<br> <br>