Dozens of homes for social rent built in Wakefield last year, figures reveal

Across the country, the number completed each year has dropped nearly 80 per cent in the last decade.

Read: Caught on camera: Can you help Wakefield police identify these people?The Chartered Institute of Housing has criticised the slowdown in building the most affordable properties, saying they are needed to tackle a national housing crisis.

The 87 homes completed in Wakefield for social rental in 2017-18 represent a 28 per cent increase on the total built ten years ago.

Social home building in the area peaked in 1992-93, when 239 homes were completed – more than in the last two years combined.

Some housing deemed by the Government to be affordable was completed in the area last year. In total, 339 affordable housing units were built. Of those, 39 per cent were for affordable rental, meaning that rental costs are pegged at 80 per cent of the average local market rate.

Nearly 27,000 affordable dwellings were completed across England last year, an increase of 10 per cent on 2016-17.

Chartered Institute of Housing head of policy and external affairs, Melanie Rees, said: “Another year-on-year increase in the total number of affordable homes being built is a welcome step, but we still have a long way to go.

Read: Teach your children about the importance of Christmas giving“It’s disappointing to see that so few of those homes are at the lowest social rents - the only truly affordable option for many people on lower incomes.

“We desperately need more genuinely affordable homes to tackle our national housing crisis and rising levels of homelessness.”

Ms Rees said that CIH research showed more than 150,000 homes for social rent were lost between 2012 and 2017, with the figure anticipated to reach 230,000 by 2020 unless immediate action is taken.

Housing Minister, Kit Malthouse, said: “We are determined that more people in need can have access to a good quality home, and have delivered over 293,000 homes for affordable rent since 2010.

“But we must go further and by scrapping the borrowing cap for local authorities, we have set them free to build thousands of new council homes across the country, and our £9 billion Affordable Homes programme will deliver at least a further 12,500 social rent homes in the areas where they are needed most."

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