Highest number of ‘affordable homes’ in York delivered in a decade
More than 200 homes classed as affordable were delivered over the past year.
More than 200 homes classed as affordable were delivered in York over the past year – the highest number in a decade.
The Liberal Democrat / Green-run council has welcomed the news, stating that building affordable homes is a top priority.
The figures include affordable housing built by private developers, but the Lib Dems pointed out that the 477 created since 2019 when they took power is more than was built under the previous Conservative / Lib Dem (2015-2019) and Labour (2011-2015) administrations.
The party said it expects around 600 new affordable homes to have been delivered before the end of its term in office.
There is no agreed definition of affordable housing, according to the House of Commons Library, and the Affordable Housing Commission in 2020 concluded “many” of the products that come under the term “are clearly unaffordable to those on mid to lower incomes.”
The city also regularly loses more than 60 affordable houses each year to the right to buy scheme, a flagship policy of Margaret Thatcher’s Conservative government.
Recently, there has also been a significant drop in the level of housing planning consents granted by the council, attributed to the pandemic.
Coun Nigel Ayre, executive member for finance and major projects, said: “Delivery of affordable housing across the city is a key priority for this administration, so I’m glad to see numbers of houses delivered continue to rise since 2019. This is despite the major challenges brought about by Brexit, the pandemic and skyrocketing inflation.
“Whilst these rising numbers are good news, clearly more can and must be done to deliver homes as the housing crisis grips this country.”
Executive member for housing, Denise Craghill, added: “Delivering more affordable housing in the city has been a top priority and will continue to be so.
“It is therefore very positive to see the number of new affordable homes continuing to increase. I’m pleased to see the council’s own housing delivery programme accounting for over a quarter of the affordable planning consents over the last year.”
The council’s own house building programme of 600 new homes on sites it owns will deliver at least 40 per cent affordable housing.
Labour group leader Coun Claire Douglas said: “Overcrowding, worsening housing conditions and a waiting list that’s gone through the roof will be how this Lib Dem led council is remembered on affordable housing.
“It could be developing so many more genuinely affordable homes on council land, but instead prefers to develop homes to sell upwards of £500k, after which public land will be gone.
“And although they appear to forget being in coalition with Conservatives in York until 2019, it is the Lib Dems’ seven year failure to adopt a Local Plan, a plan the Lib Dem council leader is personally working to sabotage, that is really stifling delivery of the genuinely affordable housing our residents so desperately need”.
York’s Local Plan, which is currently undergoing examination by independent inspectors, would see 822 homes built per year if it is approved.
The city has been without a Local Plan since the 1950s.