JUST a quarter of the affordable homes needed in the city are set to be completed in the current year - with a fifth of them being for travellers.

Brighton and Hove City Council is set to dramatically miss its target of 236 affordable homes in the city with just 60 on course to be ready for residents.

The figure, which includes 12 pitches at Horsdean for traveller families, is on course to be the lowest in four years.

Housing campaigners said even that small number of homes were out of reach for many while opposition councillors called on Labour to start delivering on its promises.

Councillor Mary Mears, Conservative housing lead, said: “These numbers are very worrying.

“There has been all this hype from council saying we are doing this and that on affordable housing but the figures show they have only delivered 48 homes this year.

“When you look at the breakdown I don’t see how you can put those 12 traveller pitches in as affordable.

“For those people who have no chance of getting affordable housing, it must be very frustrating.”

Fellow conservative councillor Dawn Barnett, who represents residents in Hangleton and Knoll, said they would be “very disappointed” and said: “The Labour administration need to pull their finger out.”

The council said it was doing all it could to bring more affordable housing to the city. New homes in 2016/17 include 13 regenerated council homes, five on difficult council sites and 20 shared ownership housing association flats.

Council officers said more homes may become available through the year but it is unlikely the council is going to get close to its target of 236 or 30 per cent of new homes.

They said the “poor” performance since 2015/16 was due to “a lull” by housing associations after “a period of high delivery” caused partly by government funding changes.

Diane Montgomery, of the Living Rent campaign, said: “It is extremely worrying considering there is a lot of debate about what affordable really means. This figure will have very little impact on the acute housing need of the most poor and vulnerable in the city. For shared ownership a lot of people wouldn’t be able to afford the repayments or deposit.”

A city council spokesman said: “We are already doing all the things councils can do to create new homes.

"We already insist on the highest possible proportion of affordable houses in each development - up to 40 per cent.

"We’re not aware of any cases where a developer has got away with providing fewer affordable homes than a development could sustain.”

The Argus contacted the Friends, Families and Travellers group for a comment but received no response.

CLASH BETWEEN DEVELOPERS AND CAMPAIGNERS

Q: What’s an affordable home?

A: Like most things in local government, this is not a straight forward answer. Affordable can mean social rented housing owned by councils and housing associations starting from around £350 a month for a one bedroom property.

It is also affordable rent at 80 per cent of the local market or intermediate housing rent between social and market rents.

To housing campaigners, these are not affordable because they are linked to the inflated housing market and not wages.

Q: Why isn’t the council doing more to achieve its target?

A: The council says it is already doing all the things that councils can do by insisting on proportions of affordable housing in private developments, building new homes on council land (a minimum of 500 by 2020) and working on future developments with providers such as Hyde (the joint venture to deliver at least 1,000 affordable homes).

Q: Why can’t the council just make developers provide more affordable housing?

A: The council says if it insists on a level of affordable housing above what makes a development viable, the developer will abandon the scheme or appeal to reduce the figure. Housing campaigners want the council to be more robust with developers and insist upon 40 per cent of properties in a development to be affordable.

Q: Are developers being genuine in saying they can’t afford to provide any more affordable homes?

A: Housing campaigners would say no, they believe housing developers prefer to deliver high-end properties to make higher margins on land they have paid a pretty sum for in this desirable and small city.

But that is where the district valuer (DV) is supposed to play its part and weigh up the figures impartially. In recent cases, the DV has agreed with housebuilders that 40 per cent is not viable, proposing smaller percentages.

Q: What other problems are there?

A: Even when developers agree a level of affordable homes, they say they can’t find providers to take them on.

Housing associations claim the Government’s decision to reduce social rents make smaller blocks of affordable housing unviable.

Housing campaigners say this is where the council could step in and offer to manage affordable housing themselves.

This could happen more in the future with the council exploring options to buy homes in major developments off plan and make them available to residents on its housing waiting list who could not afford the homes on the private market.