Candidates vying to become York and North Yorkshire’s first elected mayor all agree that providing truly affordable housing is key to solving the area’s housing crisis.
However, the six contenders to take up the role after the May 2 election have pledged to oversee diverse actions, from encouraging developers to construct low-cost modular buildings to making new homes more energy efficient.
The pledges, which include contrasting amounts of specific policies, follow concerns being frequently raised across the area over the affordability of housing that is classed as affordable and the number of affordable houses being built.
Last year, the Yorkshire Dales National Park Authority faced criticism after approving a housing development featuring affordable homes costing up to £320,000, while councillors have also regularly highlighted the lack of energy-saving and sustainable elements.
Parts of York and North Yorkshire have some of the least affordable housing outside the South East of England, with property prices averaging up to 13 times household incomes ratios, particularly in areas of York and Harrogate.
North Yorkshire Council has stated housing affordability is being exacerbated by the county’s low wage economy, with the most common salaries averaging £20,000 in some areas.
The authority is also set to start charging second home owners a 100 per cent council tax premium in an attempt to free up housing for locals and generate funds to build affordable housing.
Meanwhile, City of York Council has committed to putting 100 per cent affordable housing on council-owned land, saying the city’s desperate need for affordable housing is due to a lack of house building in previous years.
The authority says there is a need for 592 new affordable homes each year, but “the accumulated number of affordable housing completions in York over the last five years is 648.”
Green Party candidate Kevin Foster said “right homes in the right place to the right specification” were urgently needed.
The former soldier added: “Affordable housing must be well insulated so it is cheap to run, and be designed with the transition to electric vehicles and renewable energy use in mind.
“We have to address the issue of competition for accommodation between tourism and permanent residents in places like Whitby and the Dales. Local people, many of whom work in the tourism sector which is an important part of the local economy, need places to live near their work and in their own communities.”
Independent candidate Keith Tordoff said he believed providing “modular and environmentally cheap to run houses” on brownfield sites was the solution residents were needing.
He said: “The situation is urgent and this plan will deliver quickly with infrastructure put into place.”
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