Plans to deliver hundreds of new affordable homes for local families across North Yorkshire are gathering pace as efforts intensify to meet the county’s growing demand for housing.
To help meet demand for affordable accommodation and ensure more people can live in the communities they want to, we have committed to delivering 500 new council homes by 2029 through its Housing Revenue Account (HRA).
More than 7,000 households are currently registered with North Yorkshire Home Choice, a choice-based lettings scheme operated by the council, which is used to allocate social and affordable housing across the region.
Buying completed homes directly from developers forms an important part of delivering the council’s housing ambitions, helping to boost the supply of affordable housing more quickly in areas where demand is greatest.
The latest proposals could see us acquire 10 new-build homes in Knaresborough, where demand for affordable housing is high, with more than 500 households having identified the town and surrounding villages as their preferred location.
Seven of the properties, including five four-bedroom homes and two three-bedroom homes, would be made available to rent to families in housing need.
The remaining three homes, one three-bedroom and two four-bedroom properties, would be offered through shared ownership to help more residents take their first step onto the property ladder.
The proposals will be presented to members of our executive committee on Tuesday next week (4 August).
Executive member for housing, Cllr Simon Myers, said: “As one of the largest councils in England, one of the biggest challenges we face is a lack of affordable housing.
“Increasing the supply of affordable housing is one of our key priorities as we work to ensure more local people and families can access homes where they want to live.
“We have committed to delivering 500 new council homes by 2029 to help meet this demand, and acquisitions such as these help increase the supply of high-quality affordable housing while also supporting the creation of healthy and sustainable communities.
“We are taking a number of approaches to achieve this ambition, including investing funding generated through the second homes council tax premium and working closely with partner housing providers through the York and North Yorkshire Strategic Housing Partnership.
“We have also recently agreed a joint delivery programme with a nationally renowned housing developer to help accelerate the delivery of homes on council-owned sites.
“The proposals in Knaresborough, where housing is particularly expensive and delivering social rent homes can be challenging, represent another positive step forward in our commitment to provide more affordable homes across North Yorkshire, and they will be carefully considered by members of the executive next week.”
The prospective acquisition would be funded through a combination of the council’s HRA, Homes England grant funding and receipts generated through the sale of the shared ownership properties.
Plans to purchase 10 further social rented and shared ownership properties in the market towns of Bedale and Ripon, where the demand for affordable accommodation is high, were approved in December last year.
To help speed up the delivery of affordable homes across North Yorkshire, councillors also voted in favour of entering into a joint venture with Lovell Partnerships Ltd, a national housing developer, earlier this month.
The scheme is set to accelerate the delivery of high-quality, environmentally sustainable homes, with the council and Lovell working as equal partners, unlocking the potential to deliver new homes, infrastructure and green spaces at pace.
The Government has set the council a target of delivering more than 4,000 new homes a year, and the joint venture will support this ambition.
The report to the executive can be viewed or downloaded as a PDF here.