Hope on the homes front

10:36am Thursday 1st May 2008

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SOME good news at last for those desperate to get a foot on the housing ladder in York. Housing associations have received grants worth £14 million to build 365 affordable homes in the city. Work is expected to start in the autumn.

Some of the new homes - which will be a mixture of rented accommodation and low-cost homes to buy - will be on the three council-owned Discus bungalow sites in Richmond Street, St Anne's Court and Regent Street.

The rest will be included in the first phase of the Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust's Derwenthorpe development.

Despite falling house prices elsewhere in the country, the housing market in York has remained consistently buoyant.

That is good news for everybody - except first-time buyers.

What they see is property prices in the city stubbornly remaining out of reach.

The decision by Persimmon last week to shelve plans to build 160 flats at The Barbican made things worse. Council leader Steve Galloway said it could mean much-needed affordable homes in the city would be delayed.

This new £14 million of housing grant is therefore hugely welcome.

The building of 365 affordable homes in the city won't solve all of York's housing problems.

There will still be far too many people who cannot take that first step towards owning their own home.

But it will certainly help. And it will mean that the dream of owning their own home could soon be in reach at least for a lucky few.