Community-led housing looks set to benefit from an annual £1 million boost if councillors approve plans to invest funds from a second homes council tax premium to help deliver affordable properties.
We are already committed to using some of the £12m estimated to be generated annually by the premium on housing initiatives.
But with the original Community Housing Fund almost fully spent, and the need for affordable homes remaining high, especially in rural and coastal areas, members of our executive are being asked to invest £1 million from the council tax premium when they meet on Tuesday next week (5 November).
A network of community-led housing groups has grown from nine to 24 across the county, including in the Yorkshire Dales and North York Moors National Parks, which have the potential to deliver more than 120 homes.
They are able to take a leading role in the development and management of affordable homes to meet local need. However, outside of the Community Housing Fund there is no dedicated grant resource for these groups to access.
The biggest gap in funding for these organisations is that needed to establish a group, develop a housing scheme and then take it through the planning process. More than half of the projects in the pipeline in North Yorkshire need this kind of support.
Executive member for housing, Cllr Simon Myers, said: “We believe that £1 million every year will provide the vital long-term support required for these community-led housing projects to continue, to grow the pipeline, and deliver new affordable homes for local people, especially in localities where land is scarce, and providers are reluctant to deliver new homes.
“Providing more homes is one of our key priorities especially in our rural areas where prices are high and are leading to young people moving away from our towns and villages.
“This scheme is the first in a string of measures we are working on to rectify this crisis.”
We intend to work with registered housing providers and Homes England to seek their support for community-led groups, and encourage them to work together to offer advice, support and access to additional funding streams.
We will also be looking to maximise opportunities for carbon reduction measures to be installed and for buildings to meet the future homes standard.
The Community Housing Fund was announced by the Government in the spring of 2016. Using stamp duty on second homes, £60 million was given to 148 local authorities to support community-led housing.
This funding was directed specifically to areas across the country with high numbers of second home ownership to bring forward additional, affordable homes for residents priced out of their local communities.