I keep reading about affordable housing when new developments, such as that for the King Alfred site in Hove, are being considered but could someone give a figure for what these developers/councillors consider affordable.

My suggestion for affordable would be in the region of £50,000 to £60,000 for a starter flat but I never see anything like this advertised in the property pages.

A lot of people in Brighton and Hove, including myself, are working on a low wage and have no hope of buying their own property.

Every time I read that a new development is being built with a percentage of affordable housing, I get quite excited that I may at last be able to buy a home for myself and my teenage child but I never see these properties advertised.

The new developments are advertised with prices starting at £180,000, which for me is nowhere near affordable. So how does one buy one of the affordable properties?

I can only presume these are purchased by the council or housing associations and unless you are on one of their waiting lists, you have no chance of buying one independently.

I am a single parent, have lived in Brighton all my life and, because I live in a private rented property, am not considered for the council list.

The housing associations have waiting lists, which are nearly all full, and again you can only be considered for social housing if you are on the council list. So how can someone like myself buy an affordable property?

I would dearly love to get on the property ladder and give myself and my child a secure home for the future but it just does not seem possible.

I work in the city and, apart from a short break when I had my child, have always worked since leaving school but was told by the council that my housing is adequate for my needs.

Although I told them the rent was very high and was difficult for me to find every month (apparently this is not taken into consideration when points are calculated), they told me that unless I was homeless or had more children, it was unlikely that I could be considered to be put on the housing needs list.

It is a farce and encourages people to have more children to get on to the housing needs list. Could anyone shine any light on how a working mum with one child could try to buy an affordable home in this city?

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