THE LACK of affordable, family homes in York has been a contentious issue for years.

Now, a keynote report produced by City of York Council suggesting that housing chiefs could try to persuade thousands of homeowners to downsize to ease the problem has added more fuel to the flames.

The council says that 78 per cent of private homes in the city are officially “under occupied”, meaning they have more than one spare bedroom.

It’s a phenomenon particularly prevalent among the elderly, and officials see it as one of the biggest housing issues facing the city.

But is it right to put pressure on people to downsize? After all, as York estate agent Kevin Hollinrake points out, isn’t the size of people’s homes up to them?

Pressurising people to downsize is not the council’s intention, says housing strategy manager Paul Stamp – it is all about supporting them to move into a smaller home if they want to.

“The biggest stress is on trying to enable people to stay in their homes and maintain them through grants,” says Mr Stamp.

“It is accepted there is a level of under-occupation and that is a factor we are interested in exploring: what might prevent people from downsizing?

“We do know there are people out there, typically older people, who would like to move to a home more suited to their needs, perhaps to release equity tied up in a larger home, perhaps because in the current climate utility bills are higher than they were, and council tax. There are good reasons why for some people, downsizing would be a good option to consider.”

The downsizing issue is just one part of York Private Sector Housing Strategy 2008-2013, Mr Stamp stresses.

Other elements include:

• Supporting people to maintain and repair their own homes

• Encouraging landlords to provide good quality and well managed properties

• Helping people whose independence is at risk to stay in their homes

• Strengthening partnerships to support the private housing sector

At this stage, all the council is doing about downsizing is developing a picture of exactly what kind of homes are available in York, Mr Stamp said.

It is also looking at options to help with downsizing, such as shared ownership and what grants could be available to help. But in the future, there may be a pilot scheme which tries to put some of that into practice.

Don Parlabean, of the York Older People’s Assembly, admits many older people would like to downsize – but find there is nowhere suitable to go.

“I have pointed out to the council that what they need to be doing is building homes suitable for elderly people to move in to,” he said. “To downsize means to go down to a terrace and have to leave the car outside. What we need for older people is being able to move into something like sheltered housing scheme but with car parking facilities which would then downsize to wheelchair facilities.”

Getting the balance of housing right is crucial to York’s future, admits Bill Woolley, the council’s director of city strategy. In the recent past, far too many flats were built in York, with not enough good quality family housing, Many developers in the recent past had felt “caught in a trap”, Mr Woolley conceded – partly because of Government targets for housing on brownfield, city-centre sites. That led to a huge number of high-density developments in town and city centres – which, because of the lack of space, meant a lot of flats.

The emphasis is now beginning to shift, Mr Woolley said. The Government is still keen for brownfield sites to be developed. “But it is not just about numbers (of homes). It is about quality.”

But estate agent Mr Hollinrake, of Hunters, would like to see a fundamental change in council policies.

“The principle difficulty with providing affordable homes in York is there are very few homes being built because of the council’s policy for affordable housing,” he said.

“The council have said all new schemes have to have 50 per cent affordable housing and it has caused a dramatic reduction in the number of new homes that are being built in York before the property slump even started.

“I would like to see the council working with developers to draw up new policies, with 15 or 20 per cent affordable housing.”

‘Boomerang’ kids

DOWNSIZING is not an option for Michelle and Andrew Forshaw.

Their four bedroom home in Wigginton was fantastic for bringing up four daughters, says Michelle, 52, and just as good when they all left home.

The problem is, they tend to return.

“They have been boomerang children, coming and going,” says Michelle, who works at Royle Recruitment, in York.

“All of them have left and then come back later.

“We’ve got a full garage of their stuff.”

Children move out to go to university or to share with friends or boyfriends, points out Michelle.

If friendships and relationships don’t work out, or they want to save money, they need somewhere to come back to.

Since the girls moved out, Michelle and Andrew converted one bedroom into an office.

There is still plenty of space for their granddaughter to stay and to store their daughters’ things.

One day they may choose to downsize, she admits, but would not want the council to interfere.

“It’s good because if we have family functions then people can stay over in our two spare rooms.

“I think it should be up to the individual to decide what they want to do.”