Yorkshire borough sees massive growth in creation of affordable homes

Across the country 66,640 new affordable homes were delivered in 2014/15, a 55 per cent rise on 2013/14. The Yorkshire total of 3,670 represented a 30 per cent rise over the same period, according to Government figures published today.

One of the biggest increases was in Scarborough, where 270 affordable homes were created in 2014/15 across the borough compared with just 40 in 2013/14 and 100 in the previous year.

Council officials say this is due to “a number of factors coming together at the same time” but fear the rise may not be sustainable due to “forthcoming radical changes to the housing sector”.

The national figure, which does not take into account any affordable homes that were lost during the year, was the highest in 19 years and more than double the 32,920 created in 2002/3.

This increase was largely driven by the number of new affordable rented homes doubling over a year from 19,740 to 40,710.

The number of new affordable home owners rose by 41 per cent, though there were fewer new homes for social rent, the cheapest rate charged by local authorities and housing associations and available to those on council housing lists.

Communities Secretary Greg Clark said the figures “show how far we’ve come to get the country building, bringing the industry back from the brink to deliver the highest annual increase in affordable housebuilding for over two decades”.

He added: “But we are far from complacent and the doubling of government investment in housebuilding announced at the recent Spending Review reaffirms our commitment to deliver a million new homes by 2020.

“Affordable homes to rent and buy are a key part of that, helping to give young people and families across the country the best possible start in life.”

Currently, developers of all but the smallest housing schemes are required to provide some kind of affordable housing, or a payment to the local council, but the government’s Starter Homes scheme will scrap this demand.

Campbell Robb, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, said: “It’s encouraging to see that affordable house-building has increased considerably in the last year, but the true test will be whether or not these homes are affordable to people on ordinary incomes.

“We’re worried this increase could be short-lived, and that the new government schemes geared towards ownership, such as Starter Homes, will only help those who are better off.

“The only way to turn around our housing crisis for the long term is to provide homes for rent or buy that people on low or average wages can actually afford.”

The government defines affordable housing as “social rented, affordable rented and intermediate housing provided to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the market”.

In Yorkshire, the total of 3,670 new affordable homes created was a substantial increase on the 2013/14 total of 2,830 but lower than the 2011/12 total of 4,490.

There was a big increase in Sheffield, where 560 new affordable homes were created compared with 200 the previous year and 110 the year before that.

In Scarborough, which saw the biggest rise in the region, it emerged last year that more than 6,000 homes were sitting empty across the borough despite thousands of people being on the housing list waiting to be homed.

At that point the housing waiting list had more than 2,000 applicants who are desperately seeking accommodation in the borough.

Bill Chatt, portfolio holder for housing and public health for Scarborough Borough Council, said it had been working for years on an affordable housing programme.

But he said the authority was reliant on other local organisations to try and meet its 400-home-a-year target as its own housing stock was sold off in 2003.

Mr Chatt said: “Where there are sites that aren’t viable, the council has put money in to make the site viable.

“We have a big project going on at Whitby, of 100 homes, that has been quite a few years in the making. It has now come to the end and Yorkshire Coast Homes are finally getting on site.

“They have been using different sites across the borough. We have a close relationship with Yorkshire Coast Homes and see what they are doing.

“This year (2015/16) we have had a really exceptional year. 270 homes have been developed, by the end of the year we should have nearly 300 homes.

“We have some homes which are coming on stream in the next three months, so it will be the best year we have ever had.

“We have got about another 400 homes in the pipeline, that does not necessarily mean it will be next year but in the next two or three years they will come through.”

He added: “The biggest issue for me is providing affordable housing for people to live in and making it to a standard where people aren’t living in 1930s housing which hasn’t been updated for a long time.”

Andrew Rowe, Scarborough Borough Council’s Housing Manager, said: “It is fair to say that in the last 12 months, the number of affordable housing completions in our area has risen considerably.

“This is due to a number of factors coming together at the same time, namely, council owned land becoming available for development, the maximisation of our Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) grant, previously delayed Section 106 sites coming to fruition and our rural housing programme continuing to make small but important steps in delivering affordable homes in rural areas.

“We also have good and effective partnerships with local registered providers, which we feel are crucial in helping us develop our plans for delivering affordable housing.

“Looking to the future however, we are uncertain about the levels of affordable housing that could be delivered in our area.

“Historically, figures have fluctuated up and down on an annual basis depending on a variety of external factors. The next few years are expected to be no different as forthcoming radical changes to the housing sector are likely to have a significant knock on effect on the ability to deliver affordable housing.”