WE need to look at new and innovative ways to tackle our housing crisis.

Community homes group YorSpace is one such project that deserves a chance. YorSpace wants to build low-cost, cooperatively owned, environmentally sustainable homes but has already had its hopes dashed.

Last year, it lost out on a scheme to build a dozen affordable homes in Bishophill when retirement homes specialist McCarthy and Stone outbid YorSpace for the site.

Undeterred, YorSpace is now looking at developing a scheme in Acomb – and the prospects look promising. It wants a corner of Lowfield Green, on the former site of Lowfield School, for a community self-build housing project.

It is about to sign an exclusivity agreement with the City of York Council after it was awarded “preferred bidder” status by the local authority for community self-build housing at the site.

The exclusivity agreement should help YorSpace secure funding by proving to backers that the project is viable.

Should it go ahead, some 19 homes will be built there. They will be a mixture of family homes and smaller flats and houses – for up to 47 people.

Residents will live there through a mutual home ownership scheme where they buy shares in exchange for leasehold, thus making the homes more affordable.

Nineteen homes may not sound a lot, given the scale of housing need in York. But it would be a big step in the right direction – and should the model work, it could be copied elsewhere.

THE plans put forward by community housing group YorSpace for the former Oliver House care home in Bishophill last year were truly radical.

The group proposed to build about a dozen affordable homes ranging from one to four beds each, sharing communal areas, a garden and an allotment.

The idea was that residents would be shareholders in the enterprise who would sell back their shareholdings at a price agreed collectively by residents when they wanted to move out. The scheme would have been funded by investors, who would have expected a return comparable to ISAs.

It was a genuine attempt to find a way to solve the desperate shortage of affordable housing in York.

Sadly, it fell victim to economic reality. YorSpace was one of 24 organisations which bid for the site, and although it was shortlisted it eventually lost out to retirement homes specialist McCarthy and Stone, which could afford to pay more.

Since then, the group has been searching for an alternative site in York. And we are delighted to report today that it has now been invited by the city council to put together proposals for part of the former Lowfield School site in Acomb.

The council proposals for the site, unveiled recently, include a new residential home for older people; houses, bungalows and flats for families and those aged over 55; some self-build plots; a health centre; and a village green, play area and allotments.

We wish YorSpace luck. They would surely fit in very well at Lowfield. And if the group could demonstrate that their approach to providing affordable housing works, it might provide a model that could be used elsewhere in the city, to the enormous benefit of young families in desperate need of decent homes they can afford.