A major milestone has been reached in the mission to provide affordable, high quality and sustainable homes across York and North Yorkshire with the launch of a new Affordable Homes Standard.
Spearheaded by the York and North Yorkshire Housing Partnership, the Standard represents a shared commitment to ensuring that all affordable homes across the region meet a consistent, high-quality benchmark and reflect the needs of local communities, now and for generations to come.
At its core, the Standard provides a clear framework for what good affordable housing should look like. It sets out agreed specifications covering space standards, energy efficiency, design quality, types of housing, and how homes can be adapted to people’s needs over time.
The Standard is designed to support housing needs at all stages of life and will make affordable homes indistinguishable from those sold on the open market.
Environmental sustainability is a central part of this. The Standard sets out how new homes should be built with high levels of insulation, low carbon heating such as heat pumps, and features to protect and enhance the natural environment, ensuring space for nature to thrive alongside people.
Most significantly, the 23 members which make up the York and North Yorkshire Housing Partnership have all committed to only building or acquiring homes that meet the new Standard.
The Standard has received the full support of York and North Yorkshire Mayor David Skaith, reflecting his vision for creating healthy, thriving communities across the region. It is also supported by City of York Council and North Yorkshire Council which are partnership members.
David Skaith, Mayor of York and North Yorkshire, said:
We need to deliver the right homes in the right places, ensuring our next generation can stay and thrive in York and North Yorkshire. That ambition takes a big step forward with the launch of the Affordable Homes Standard.
“This sets a consistent, high-quality benchmark as we play our part and deliver on the national target of building 1.5 million homes.
“It means that we build more energy efficient homes with a better quality of design, built with nature in mind. That’s good news for our environment and for residents, who will benefit from lower energy bills.
“This underpins our commitment to create and support thriving communities and I look forward to working closely with the York and North Yorkshire Housing Partnership on delivering the homes we deserve and need.”
The Standard has been developed in response to growing recognition of the need for more consistent standards and a more community-focused approach to the delivery of homes secured through Section 106 agreements - an essential tool for providing affordable housing through the planning process.
While these homes help boost affordable housing supply, the partnership is clear that quality and long-term suitability must go hand in hand with quantity.
Councillor Michael Pavlovic, Executive Member for Housing at City of York Council, said:
This new Standard which we proudly support, echoes our commitment to improving the quality and supply of affordable homes in the city.
“We are providing great quality homes through our own Housing Delivery Programme and we welcome this approach to ensure that all affordable homes developed in the city in future years will be spacious, healthy and environmentally friendly.”
Councillor Simon Myers, Executive Member for Housing at North Yorkshire Council, added:
This new standard sets out exactly what the people of North Yorkshire should be able to expect from affordable homes and makes an important contribution to improving their quality of life.
“It reflects our commitment as a landlord to improve our own homes and raises the bar for our partners and others in the sector to do the same.”
Nick Atkin, Chair of the York and North Yorkshire Housing Partnership, said:
This new Standard is a big step forward in making sure affordable housing across our region is built to a consistently high standard. It’s about creating homes that people can be proud of, well designed, energy efficient, and built to meet the needs of local communities now and in the future.
“By working together across the region, we’re setting a clear shared benchmark for what good affordable housing will look like in York and North Yorkshire.”