20% is part buy/part rent at commercial rates so again most of the capital's key workers such as nurses and teachers will not be able to afford this. For Hackney it would work out that only 17 socially affordable homes, of which seven will be family-sized units and ten one/two bedroom properties, will be built. This is while Hackney council has a waiting list of about 12,000-15,000 families.

　　A report published in May 2007 for the Greater London Authority warns that the event will struggle to bring a boom in jobs, sport and housing and that it could result in white elephant venues, job losses and a couch potato generation hooked on television sports coverage.

　　The report also claims it will be difficult to regenerate parts of East London, where the venues will be built. Researchers analysed the aftermath of the Olympics in Athens, Sydney, Atlanta and Barcelona. They found venues "struggled to make their mark" in improving employment and sports participation.

　　The authors of the report, based at the University of East London, said that Greece actually had lost 70,000 jobs just after the 2004 games. Improvement in sports participation was "mixed, at best" with Sydney experiencing small increases in seven Olympic sports but a decline in nine. The research suggests this could be due to the "couch potato syndrome" induced by the quantity of TV sports coverage.