Silent tragedy of rural housing

Leading politicians have warned that a lack of affordable properties will see families and young people driven out of the market towns and villages where they have grown up.

Concerns are mounting that villages and market towns will simply become dormitory settlements for commuters heading into the region's large urban areas with properties also snapped up as retirement homes or holiday lets.

The leader of Richmondshire District Council, Coun Fleur Butler, claimed the lack of affordable housing is the biggest challenge facing the authority.

The average price of property in the Richmondshire district is nearly 221,000 – the second highest in the region after Harrogate.

However, average annual wage in Richmondshire is less than 18,500. The gross annual income needed for a mortgage to buy a property in the district is now nearly 57,000.

Coun Butler said: "The affordable housing problem is a silent tragedy for our rural communities. People are leaving the places where they grew up not because of a lack of jobs, but because they simply cannot afford to buy a home.

"Once these people leave, the rural communities are being destroyed with schools, post offices and shops forced to close.

"There is a very real threat that places like Richmond will simply become a dormitory town for larger urban areas within the next generation."

The average house price in the region has been left relatively unchanged by the recession, with a widely-predicted slump in the property values never materialising. The average house price in Yorkshire has dropped less than 6,000 in two years from 159,212 in 2007 to 153,736 last year.

The National Housing Federation has compiled its annual Home Truths report which has revealed that it requires twice the average regional income – almost 40,000 – to obtain a mortgage for the average home in Yorkshire, even with a 10 per cent deposit.

The federation's regional manager, Michelle Park, said: "Those on middle incomes, in addition to those on lower incomes, are truly being squeezed."

The number of affordable homes in the Yorkshire region has fallen by six per cent in the five years up until 2009 – double the national average.

Right-to-buy schemes have been responsible for many owners purchasing their homes, but no new affordable housing has been built to replace the properties sold off.

Mrs Park added: "Undeniably the outlook is bleak. Housing associations are doing their best to combat the crisis.

"However, without further investment from the Government, things could get much worse before they get better. Now is the time to tackle the situation head on.

"Investing in affordable housing is about so much more than bricks and mortar, it is about investing in individuals, families and the wider economy."

Second home ownership has escalated in many parts of the region in the last five years, compounding the lack of affordable housing as well as undermining rural life.

Many of the properties bought as second homes are remaining empty for long periods, eroding trade for beleaguered village stores and post offices.

In North Lincolnshire, there were 338 second homes in 2004, while the figure had increase to 511 last year – a 51 per cent rise.

However, there have been some successes in creating affordable homes.

There have been 57 affordable properties built in the North York Moors National Park in the three years up until the end of March.

Senior officials have privately admitted that a lack of funding from Westminster will gravely undermine future projects in the national park.

A team of rural housing enablers in Yorkshire is also under threat of being drastically scaled back due to the Government's cuts.

Colin Huby, Scarborough and Ryedale's rural housing enabler, claimed the affordable housing situation is at its most critical point since he started his job six years ago.

However, the Department for Communities and Local Government maintained that reducing the national debt would help more people get on the housing ladder by keeping interest rates low, and making credit more accessible.