Andy Burnham’s government should recognise that housing must meet community need - Yorkshire Post Letters

Andy Burnham is right to argue that we need a renewed commitment to council and genuinely affordable housing if we are serious about tackling the housing crisis across the North.

Too often the debate focuses on headline housing targets while overlooking the types of homes people actually need and the communities they are intended to serve.

In rural North Yorkshire, young families struggle to remain in the villages where they grew up, employers cannot recruit because staff cannot find affordable homes, older residents have few opportunities to downsize locally, and the growth of second homes and short-term holiday lets continues to reduce the supply of permanent housing.

Across the area we see the consequences every year. During the quieter winter months, some local families are housed in holiday accommodation because there is nowhere else for them to go.

Then, as the tourist season approaches, they are required to leave to make way for visitors, prompting desperate appeals for rental homes across local community groups.

At the same time, there are empty properties whose owners feel trapped, unable to achieve a realistic sale price, unwilling to become private landlords or continue with the demands of the holiday-let market. These homes could provide secure, affordable accommodation if the right partnerships existed between owners, housing associations and local authorities.

Speaking at the Rural Housing Conference at Ripon Cathedral in June, York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith captured the problem perfectly with an example of skilled construction apprentices who are having to live away from North Yorkshire due to the cost of housing, when he said: "We are able to create a very talented young person… but they cannot stay and they cannot live in the place they call home. I think this is fundamentally wrong."

Those words reflect the reality facing communities across Yorkshire, where the lack of affordable homes threatens not only individual families but the long-term sustainability of our towns and villages.

The answer is not simply to build more houses, but to build the right homes in the right places. That means combining large strategic developments with smaller community-led schemes, bringing empty homes back into use, improving accessibility, and ensuring new developments are supported by the infrastructure and services communities need.

Housing associations, local authorities, Homes England and community organisations all have a role to play, but they need a national government prepared to provide long-term investment, planning certainty and the freedom to deliver genuinely affordable homes rather than relying predominantly on the private market.

A Labour government should put housing at the heart of its programme for the North. Success will not simply be measured by the number of homes built, but by whether young people can afford to stay in the communities where they grew up, key workers can live near their jobs, rural communities remain sustainable, and older residents have suitable homes that allow them to remain independent.

The North has the expertise, the partnerships and the willingness to tackle these challenges. What it now needs is sustained national leadership to match local ambition and ensure that every community, urban and rural alike, has access to the affordable, high-quality homes it needs.