Calderdale falling short of hitting affordable homes target but picture is changing, Cabinet member responds

Coun Amanda Parsons-Hulse (Lib Dem, Warley) said according to West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) Housing Strategy 2040, the number of people on housing waiting lists across the area is “worryingly high” at just under 85,000.

With the Covid pandemic and other factors contributing, the number of people in need of a home was likely to be higher as not everyone in need was on a waiting list, she told Calderdale councillors.

Coun Parsons-Hulse said all members would doubtless have been contacted by constituents with serious housing problems and some sectors disproportionately affected.

“Whatever the overall number, the effects can be devastating on physical and mental health,” she said.

While improving quality and affordability of housing stock were welcome housing strategy goals, numbers of homes delivered were some way short of target – 1,500 affordable homes in West Yorkshire in 2022-23 but requirement to find 40,000 by 2040, a rate of more than 2,000 a year.

Given this, said Coun Parsons-Hulse, she asked the Cabinet member with the housing portfolio, Coun Scott Patient (Lab, Luddenden Foot), if it was accepted there was a housing crisis needing tackling urgently.

Coun Patient said he would recognise there is a housing crisis, the local situation reflecting the national, and the housing waiting list for Calderdale currently is more than 8,600 households.

Even if numbers of homes quantified in the new Local Plan were delivered overnight it would only scratch the surface, he said.

Affordable, high quality homes were accordingly being prioritised and working closely with regional partners would ensure policy aligned with local goals, said Coun Patient.

The largest share of housing accelerator funding had been allocated to Calderdale, and growth fund and brownfield housing cash had also been secured and starting to bear fruit, for example new homes beginning to be built at Cow Green, in Halifax town centre, he said.

Calderdale numbers – 106 affordable homes in 2022-23 and 103 the previous year – were not being delivered in enough quantity to hit the 238 per year target, but the picture was shifting.

Beech Hill, Halifax, had seen 105 “fully affordable” homes delivered and the Local Plan was beginning to take effect with any large scale schemes coming through planning with the level of affordable homes the council would expect, said Coun Patient.