Cheap homes crisis

11:37am Monday 18th June 2007

The housing crisis which means thousands of first-time buyers have little chance of owning a home is deepening.

Brighton and Hove City Council has revealed 329 low-cost homes aimed at nurses, police officers, teachers and social tenants were built in Brighton last year - a third of the 1,200 target - while more than 10,000 people waited on the housing register.

In a previous report, the council said the 1,200 figure had to be met to ensure people could "access sustainable, quality, affordable housing in the city".

Another 800 low-cost homes are in the pipeline for the next three years. This falls short of the target of 3,600 flats and houses over the same period and leaves a growing gap between the haves and the have-nots.

Tony Mernagh, executive of Brighton and Hove business forum, said small creative companies which have become the lifeblood of the city's economy would leave if more homes were not built.

At a recent meeting of the city's chamber of commerce, all businesses claimed the cost of housing was becoming a hurdle to finding employees.

Mr Mernagh said: "A city which cannot house its people is a city in crisis and people are moving further afield because they cannot afford to buy a home here.

"Even with affordable houses we are getting to a stage when key workers cannot afford it.

"For most people the average home is ten times their average salary.

"As a city we need to take our brownfield sites and we need to develop them to the maximum. Future generations will not thank us for putting low density on our brownfield sites.

"A lot of people are asking themselves where their children are going to live."

He said the paucity of brownfield sites meant there would be a need to look at building on green areas of the urban fringe within ten years.

Estate agents in Brighton and Hove are experiencing a surge in first-time buyers risking all by taking out mortgages more than five times their salaries.

Land Registry figures show property prices in Brighton and Hove rose by 15.6 per cent in the year to April, making it the fastest-growing market in the country.

An increasing number of people are finding themselves on the housing list because they have lost their privately rented homes - a market which is also seeing a surge in prices.

Last year Brighton and Hove City Council, in partnership with Moat Housing which is the agent for shared ownership schemes in the city, helped 151 households into affordable home ownership.

Just over half of these were public sector employees working for the NHS, schools or the police. Another 23 key workers and their families got a step on to the housing ladder through the Keyworker Open Market Homebuy Scheme.

Between 2006 and 2008, £52 million in funding has been secured for low-cost homes in Brighton and Hove, the second highest single allocation in the region.

Councillor Mary Mears, who chairs the housing committee, said: "The main thing we need to be looking at for affordable housing is how to keep our young families in the city as they are being forced to move out. We will be looking at sites across the city and it is crucial we maximise affordable housing."