Place, Regeneration and Housing Committee - Thursday 6 November 2025, 11:00am - West Yorkshire Combined Authority Webcasting

Place, Regeneration and Housing Committee
Thursday, 6th November 2025 at 11:00am 

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  1. Lisa Littlefair (Private Sector Representative)
  2. Rotimi Olorunfemi Committee Services Officer
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  1. Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council)
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  1. Guilherme Rodrigues Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  2. Lisa Littlefair (Private Sector Representative)
  3. Cllr Jonathan Pryor Leeds City Council
  4. Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw (Bradford Council)
  5. Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council
  6. Liz Hunter, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  7. Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council)
  8. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  9. Alison Gillespie, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  10. Cllr Jessica Lennox
  11. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  12. Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council)
  13. Cllr Jack Hemingway (Wakefield Council)
  14. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  15. Cllr Jack Hemingway (Wakefield Council)
  16. Cllr Jessica Lennox
  17. Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council)
  18. Richard Butterfield, Advisory Representative (Historic England)
  19. Cllr Jessica Lennox
  20. Cllr Jack Hemingway (Wakefield Council)
  21. Cllr Ben Burton (York Council)
  22. Rotimi Olorunfemi Committee Services Officer
  23. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  24. Cllr Jonathan Pryor Leeds City Council
  25. Guilherme Rodrigues Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  26. Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw (Bradford Council)
  27. Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council
  28. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  29. Cllr Ben Burton (York Council)
  30. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  31. Mr Tamsin Hart Jones (Private Sector Representative)
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  1. Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council)
  2. Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  3. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  4. Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  5. Karl Oxford (Private Sector Representative)
  6. Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  7. Karl Oxford (Private Sector Representative)
  8. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  9. Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  10. Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council
  11. Cllr Jessica Lennox
  12. Liz Hunter, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  13. Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  14. Cllr Jessica Lennox
  15. Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  16. Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion)
  17. Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  18. Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council)
  19. Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council
  20. Cllr Jessica Lennox
  21. Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority)
  22. Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council)
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  1. Webcast Finished

1 Apologies for Absence

I think we are live now.
I think because we have some new people with us today,
we have Karl and Nathan,
so perhaps if everybody went around the table
and said who they are, would you like to start?
Good morning everybody.
My name is Fatima Kansha
and I am the West Yorkshire Inclusivity Champion.
Good morning everybody.
I'm the Tamsin Hart Jones, Assistant Director at Homes England.
Morning everyone, great to see you all. I'm Richard Butterfield, I work for Historic England in the north.
Hi everyone, my name's Nathan Spencer, I'm the MD of UK Reif and also a Board Trustee at Fusion Housing.
Carl Oxford, Executive Director of Parliament Court Society, CIC.
I am Lisa Littlefair, City Director of Mark McDonald.
Lisa Littlefair (Private Sector Representative) - 0:01:00
Denise Jeffery, leader of Wakefield Council.
Listen to the Director of Police and Environment in place at the Combined Authority.
You have all used the technology so beautifully so far, but I did promise that I would just mention, please do use the speakers.
It enables people to hear, but also the cameras because we are live streaming will pan to you when you have got your microphone on.
I'm Councillor Sarah Courtney, lead member for regeneration and transport on Caulsdale
council.
I'm Councillor Moses Crook, deputy leader of Kirklees council and also of housing and
transport portfolios.
I am Councillor Jess Lennox, I'm the exec board member in Leeds for housing which takes
in housing growth and affordable housing for one week longer and then I'm moving on so
this will be my last time with you.
Guy Rodriguez, Park Research and Intelligence team at the Combined Authority.
Rebecca Greenwood, Head of Housing Policy at the Combined Authority.
Rotimi Olorunfemi Committee Services Officer - 0:02:27
Okay, so we have apologies from Richard Dennis and Stephen Moore.
Thank you very much.

2 Declaration of Disclosable Pecuniary Interests

A declaration of disposal of human interest. Anyone got any interest? No? Thank you.

3 Exempt Information - Possible Exclusion of the Press and Public

Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council) - 0:02:42
And I don't think there are any exempt items requiring the exclusion of the press, so we

4 Minutes of the Meeting of the Place, Regeneration and Housing Committee held on 10 July 2025

can move on then. Can we agree the minutes of the meeting on
the 10th of July? Those of us over here. Thank you.
And then can we welcome you, Carl, to the meeting? It's good to see you in early appointment.
a representative on the committee and you've obviously already said who you
are but it's great to see you here and it's also nice and good to see you here
at Premier Kay Reif we're obviously expecting great things from you next year. No pressure.
Okay, we go on to item 6 then. Can we ask you to take the report?

6 Housing Dashboard and Monitoring Indicators

Good morning. So the monitoring paper, as always, provides the committee with the most
up -to -date indicators following the housing dashboard that was following its approval
Guilherme Rodrigues Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:03:51
at March 2025 committee meeting and
The indicators report are reported in four different objectives within contextual and performance indicators
I'll just some I like some of the new data. We have not all that is included in the report itself
So under the objective one, we have new information regarding housing starts and completions funded by homes, England
So in 24 -25 the number of housing starts funded by Homes England showed an increase of
700 starts compared with the previous year which
Puts housing starts around 2 ,000 homes in the financial
This is the highest number of all things housing starts funded by Homes England in West Yorkshire since
2016 -2017 fiscal year
However, the number of affordable homes within this group dropped slightly by 89 units.
The total number of affordable homes within those ones were 940, so slightly below half
of it.
This potentially reflects registered providers waiting for the Affordable Homes Programme bridge
funding of 2 million, which has been announced in 25 of March 2025.
In terms of completions we've seen also an increase to 1 .4 thousand ohms
completed in 25. Sorry it's not an increase, it's stable but it's a positive number
especially as the affordable ones are 1 .1 thousand so the majority of them.
These have been, these two years have been the highest numbers since we have
publication data from 2016 -2017 a
Significant driver of the increase of on completions its inclusion of houses defined as first homes
Just members to note that housing starts and completions cannot be added together. There's some risk of double counting
under objective two we have
rental growth so the second quarter of 2025
Rents grew by two point six
2 .6 % in West Yorkshire compared with 7 % in England, so substantially below the rental
inflation in the country.
England's rental inflation has been growing around 5 % or more since the fourth quarter
of 2024, and West Yorkshire has been performing better in recent years.
Over the long term, the difference is not so large, so since 2016 rents in West Yorkshire
grew by 41 percent compared with 48 percent in England.
So in the years after 2016, our rental inflation was a bit higher than average and now have
been offset in that effect.
In terms of temporary accommodation, after a period that the number of households in
temporary accommodation rose between 2019 and 2024, the first quarter of 2025 shows
some potential signs of stabilisation at the regional level. So good news.
The number of households living in temporary accommodation declined from 1 .7 thousand to 1 .6
thousand, but still significantly above the level seen in the end of 2019 prior to the COVID pandemic.
Households with children in temporary accommodation increased slightly, but
shows some signals of stabilisation as well.
As it increased, therefore, the share of households
in temporary accommodation with children has been rising
over the last years and currently at almost two -thirds,
58 % of all households in temporary accommodation
have children.
The stabilisation mentioned it's not uniform
across local authorities.
Leads continues to have the highest number
and raised.
By contrast, the stabilisation has been mostly done with Bradford and Kirkleys having a decline
in the number of households living in temporary accommodation.
Under objective three, home energy West Yorkshire, there are around 1 ,700 homes that already
benefited from the programme as part of our social housing decarbonization work in the
first wave.
And it is forecasted at a similar number in the second wave, which is ongoing.
And the third wave, the target is slightly above 5 ,000, so a significant level above
the previous ones.
Under objective four, we have data on crime, on the perceived crime.
So the perceived risk of household crime, including fraud and computer misuse in West
Yorkshire has been improving.
So, between 2016 and 2022, West Yorkshire had the highest rate of perceived assault
crime among the peer areas and significantly above the national average between 8 and 14
percent.
And the last two years, the rate fell significantly to 6 percent in 2024 and 3 percent in 2025,
the lowest rate of any of the regions analysed.
This reflects the work that has been taking place, driving down crime.
We just take some cautions that these estimates have confidence intervals,
so there are always some uncertainty about the exact ranks, but the movements that we've done
from 2016 so far, they fall outside the confidence interval,
so we can see there's been an improvement.
In terms of other indicators that we track outside the housing dashboard, we have house
prices that grew 5 percent in West Yorkshire in the last 12 months compared with 3 .4 percent
in England.
So, unlike rents in prices, median prices have been rising above the national average,
which is common across all districts except Leeds.
And in terms of prices itself, all local authorities still have lower prices than average, as you
would expect, and Bradford and Calderdale median house prices are still below the 200 ,000.
Thanks very much.
There were two things that I wanted to comment on.
One is the Brownfield housing fund.
Lisa Littlefair (Private Sector Representative) - 0:10:35
I noticed from 3 .4 and 3 .5 that there is an additional 21 million pounds of funding going
into that fund but also from appendix one that there was only one scheme currently in
Cllr Jonathan Pryor Leeds City Council - 0:10:43
Kirklees and it's actually quite a small scheme as well.
So I just wanted to note that and hopefully some of the additional funding will see a
Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw (Bradford Council) - 0:10:53
distribution of schemes across the region and then the other thing I
Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council - 0:10:56
wanted to note was just to thank publicly the officers in Kirklees for
the work they've done with respect to our homelessness duty. We've seen a
significant reduction in presentations of homelessness but also a much better
use of temporary accommodation so we've reduced our use of bed -and -breakfast
accommodation for example by 40 % and for families including children that's 58 %
because we've prioritised those more vulnerable groups.
So just to thank them really publicly for that excellent work.
Well, that is good news.
It's always good to hear on that.
And I think perhaps, Liz, do you want to comment on the housing situation?
Sure, I can do.
So as you're aware, the Brownfield Housing Fund programme
has a number of constraints around it
in terms of having a benefit cost ratio above one,
having to be on Brownfield, et cetera.
So, when we come to the private session, we've got coming up where we are moving towards
an integrated settlement from the next financial year, we hope to have greater flexibility
so that we can support schemes in a different way going forward.
Liz Hunter, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:12:04
So maybe hold that thought and we can feed that into that conversation, but yes, noted
and recognise the current geographical spread of the funding, but like I say, we're constrained
by some of those government criteria at the moment.
But I think the point's well made. I think Kirklees, Wakefield and Colerdale have to
stand up for ourselves now and again. We have to give a nudge so we're not overshadowed
by Leeds and Brownfields. Sorry, Alex.
Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council) - 0:12:32
Yeah, thank you. I mean, I would echo what Moses has said about Brownfields sites. And
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 0:12:44
I think it's interesting because we do have,
we also have lots of mills, beautiful mills
and other structures which,
maybe not looking at them necessarily just as brownfield
but as being able to repurpose them
but they did still take quite a lot of investment
and unlocking and maybe encouragement
because actually some of them can be turned
into very successful sort of housing and stuff.
So I think it's not just about can they be levelled
and start again, which has its own inherent,
huge inherent cost, but actually,
can we repurpose some of those beautiful buildings
that are throughout the whole of the West Yorkshire region,
you know, all of that industrial revolutionary architecture
which still exists and actually is very solid,
which is why it still exists.
Yeah, thank you.
the
update.
Thank you.
Just a couple of reflections. I think it's important to note
that within the update there was still reference to the fact that
Alison Gillespie, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:13:50
the number of children in temporary accommodation is still
Cllr Jessica Lennox - 0:13:54
significant. And is rising. I suppose my question is, and I
really appreciate the note about the combined authority working
very closely with local authorities on this,
just to get a bit of assurance about,
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 0:14:05
are we doing everything we can, and are we maximising
our collaborative relationships with our partners
to support these really vulnerable children
and young people?
And my second reflection is, as the sort
of chair of digital inclusion, one of the things
that we are really trying to do is
support households not only with connectivity,
but actually harnessing the power of digital,
particularly when it comes to accessing services.
And I suppose my question, and it's with an offer as well,
and the work that we are doing with the local government on
digital inclusion to make sure that people don't only have
access to the devices and paid for internet connexion but
also the ability to utilise it and maximise their interactions
and support social isolation as well.
I think that would be a good way of moving that forward and
thanks to the comments on that. Richard.
Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council) - 0:14:56
I think it's a quick point to follow up on Councillor Courtney's point about repurposing
industrial buildings and so on.
We in the we do take a very progressive and active role in trying to find solutions for
difficult stuck sites and structures which can be quite challenging.
But equally often there are conservation deficits and viability gaps in terms of bringing those
sites forward as well.
So I think, you know, combined sort of public sector responses needed to make the most of
Cllr Jack Hemingway (Wakefield Council) - 0:15:27
that wonderful inheritance that we've got.
It's really encouraging actually to see on the list of sites there are quite a number
of sites that are involving historic places and structures and so on.
I mean, the civic water in Wakefield, for example, I mean, you know, the wider regen
benefits are just plain to see, aren't they, when we can kind of bring those kinds of structures
and places back into use.
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 0:15:52
Cllr Jack Hemingway (Wakefield Council) - 0:15:55
I just wanted to pick up a little bit from what Fatima was saying about temporary accommodation
Cllr Jessica Lennox - 0:15:59
numbers linked in with this repurposing of existing buildings.
So in Leeds we were able to work with the owner of some, well they weren't old, they
were existing student halls who wanted to offer the lease to us to use for temporary
accommodation which has provided a much more affordable way for us to provide much higher
standard of contemporary accommodation that we can oversee for families. We were able
to go in and do some work in the bedrooms and the bathrooms and the kitchens to give
people basically a proper flat for families where there's a separate room for children
to sleep from adults, there's cooking facilities, there's proper bath to bath young children,
that kind of thing. That's going to be transformative for us and we've decided to go out and look
further around the section to speak to more people about more leasing opportunities. It's
something that we're working on the budget for as well, it's just something to raise
here to see whether the combined authority has any resource or potentially convening
power that can come forward with helping all of the authorities. Because if we can get
something that's more long term, more affordable and higher quality then that's a better outcome,
especially as we know that families are staying longer in temporary accommodation than we
would want them to be. It's just going to be transformative for families if they have
proper living spaces as well as cooking spaces and proper bathrooms rather than potentially
shared bathrooms in B &Bs or whatever situation because we're all facing incredible challenges.
So that we were lucky that a private sector agency, a private sector individual came and
spoke to us about that lease. But it showed as a model that we can then go out and try
and expand. So I just thought it was worth mentioning here.
Can I just comment? Yeah, I think it is worth mentioning here. And I like the idea and I
I think if we could all try and follow that through in our areas, it would make a real
difference.
Thank you, Chair.
Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council) - 0:17:49
And just to mention that we've just had the meeting this morning, I chair the Chamber
Richard Butterfield, Advisory Representative (Historic England) - 0:17:54
of Property Forum with many of the developers and people in the property industry around
there and I will gladly take that back to them and see if we can generate any leads
for you.
That would be good, Lisa, if you could.
I mean, I think we all think that model is something that we could follow and really help families
It would be doing really
Yeah, I mean the the building that we've been able to use is also obviously got those of office space and stuff like that
So in the future, we're looking at locating services there as well. We've already got children and families going in
We've got a sector going into the play with the families and stuff like that
Cllr Jessica Lennox - 0:18:30
It's just a completely different offer from the TA as we know it
that if we can keep it sustainable and if we can expand it, saves our general fund money
and improves the experience of people while they're in TA until we get these houses built
for people.
It sounds really progressive and a simple idea really that perhaps we haven't thought
of before but thank you for bringing that here, I think that would be good. And if Lisa
could speak to people that she knows, we could perhaps move forward on this. Anyone else?
I mean, firstly, the Homes England stuff is great. I hear so much good stuff about Homes
Cllr Jack Hemingway (Wakefield Council) - 0:19:10
England and the work that they do, particularly within West Yorkshire and the like. So it's
good to see the numbers on that side. Just on the temporary accommodation, just
more of a question from my side. Because Work for a Housing charity, I know that we get
grant funding from councils and the combined authority, but then a lot of that then goes
out to the private sector. So I just kind of had a query on because from the numbers
Cllr Ben Burton (York Council) - 0:19:29
Rotimi Olorunfemi Committee Services Officer - 0:19:35
on leads, as you've mentioned, they're obviously remaining high. Is the stuff that, for example,
at Curt Lees, is it actually that we're just pumping more money in and therefore we're
fixing the problem or is there something that we're doing? Because that wouldn't really
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 0:19:47
be the preventative side of things in terms of making sure that we're changing things.
So I just wanted to get a guide of, yeah, why Curt Lees, for example, is doing quite
Cllr Jonathan Pryor Leeds City Council - 0:19:56
well on that front and is there a longer term issue or something down the line?
Guilherme Rodrigues Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:19:59
So thanks, yeah, so there's a number of measures, certainly part of it is getting upstream.
Cllr Alex Ross-Shaw (Bradford Council) - 0:20:05
The idea is to make a better experience for our residents, that's the primary focus, but
Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council - 0:20:09
obviously we will also save money for the general fund because as others have illustrated
the burden on general fund funding is significant for temporary accommodation. So a lot of the
measures that we've undertaken are getting upstream to prevent homelessness in the first
because obviously if you've got too many people coming into your temporary accommodation, whatever provision you've got,
and we've done a similar thing in terms of student accommodation as well, which has allowed us to have those self -contained units, that's really positive,
but we obviously also need to work on discharging to the private sector because if you get people stuck in temporary accommodation,
however good it is, you're still building up a bigger problem, so there's a number of measures at both ends of that that we're doing,
and hopefully that will save money, but that's a secondary, from my perspective, that's a secondary concern.
and it's about the experience, particularly of vulnerable groups like families with children,
where putting them into bed and breakfast would never be appropriate,
albeit that it's also expensive.
So a number of measures, happy to talk about that separately.
And there's also a good sort of summary of the various measures that are on the LGA website.
It's fairly easy to find if you search for Kirklees' homelessness response on the LGA.
There's a list of all of the independently named initiatives that have been put in place
over the last year or two.
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 0:21:25
Thank you. Just one thing just about the presentation. So I'm not the housing lead and I have sort
of to get a briefing on it, but so it might be information that it's just not as readily
in my head, but on the figures that were given on the charts in the papers show absolute
numbers rather than a percentage of population. And so while the absolute numbers are really
important in terms of the bigger picture and how many units may be needed, it might also
be useful to know what it is as a percentage of overall housing stock or overall population
just I think in terms of because at the moment it's obviously Colterdale's numbers are very
low, but that's because we've got a much lower population so it might be hiding an issue.
And the other thing I wanted to say, obviously, so that's brilliant in Leeds.
I think that's a great initiative.
Obviously we don't have any student accommodation because we don't have a university in Colvedale
and I think is Wakefield probably the same?
I don't know.
I think so.
But I was just wondering if that model could be replicated and although it's easier to
do it from student accommodation because they've already got the bathrooms and stuff and that
sort of thing in there.
I'm just wondering if other buildings that are empty that maybe have had other uses but
are still structurally sound but would be relatively easy and relatively cheap to sort
of kit out with, you know, sort of maybe not quite the individual bathrooms and individual
kitchens in quite the same way but maybe looking, you know, like office buildings and stuff
which still do have bathrooms and kitchens in them but just maybe not in.
So whether that's also sort of something that could be looked at, I mean, it's not as easy
as student accommodation I would have thought but just yeah support yeah in other areas.
Thank you yeah just to pick up on Nathan's point I think that the statistics show that improving
picture which is really positive and that's thanks I think to the work of the strategic
Cllr Ben Burton (York Council) - 0:23:31
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 0:23:32
place partnership and the work that we've been doing together Homes England, the combined
authority and the individual local authorities but also with the West
Mr Tamsin Hart Jones (Private Sector Representative) - 0:23:38
Yorkshire Housing Partnership as well. I know Rachel's not here today but I think that
collaborative working is really leading to some results. I think the conversation
we've just had demonstrates we need to do more, there is still that housing need
and obviously we've got the opportunity of the social and affordable homes
programme coming very soon so I think the more we can do collectively as a
group to maximise the pipeline coming through to us, then that's really important in terms
of making sure we continue that trajectory.
Yes, I think so. If there's no one else, we'll move on to the next item. But can we note

7 Housing Strategy Implementation

the messaging and information from the dashboard? And thank you for your presentation. It's
given us quite a lot to think about.
Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council) - 0:24:28
Okay, item seven is the housing information strategy and I think Sarah's going to take
us through that. Thank you, chair.
Rebecca. No problem.
Yes, this is the regular report that follows on sort of from Gee's monitoring indicators
to give an update as far as objectives of the housing strategy.
So I'll take the report as read and just provide some quick highlights for you under each of
Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:24:59
objectives in particular. So objective one to boost the supply of the right homes in
the right places as was referenced in the last item, particular highlight for this period
is the combined authority securing a further 21 million pound into the Brownfield Housing
Fund programme. So just for committee to note that that takes the entire programme up to 110
million pound and the target up to 6 ,240 homes for the programme which we're on target to achieve.
In terms of what's next, as Liz had mentioned, we're working at pace with government to negotiate
the integrated settlement which will be the next phase around housing delivery will be
part of that for the combined authority.
So from a housing perspective, within the combined authority we're undertaking a deliverability
review of our opportunities on the pipeline.
For our members to know in reference to the last discussion, that's across with each of
the local authorities and it's about talking to each individual local authority about what
the opportunities are in their area.
and to identify those schemes that are early delivery
but those strategic more complex schemes
that we're all working on as well,
what we need to do to bring those into what's hopefully
gonna be a more flexible set of parameters for us.
Moving on to objective two, improving the provision
of truly affordable and accessible and adaptable homes
in the region.
The primary activity in the period has been the development
of the regional submission to the government's
39 billion pound social and affordable homes programme.
So this will be the first time that mayors
we'll be able to set strategic direction
with the regional folks into the programme.
So whilst the programme's still national
and will be led by Homes England,
this will give us strategic control to set direction.
So to say, which I'll talk more about under the next item,
but to say how many homes we need in the region,
of what tenure, of what type, et cetera,
to encourage bidders, registered providers
to be meeting those local needs.
Just because the last conversation focused quite a lot
on temporary accommodation and homelessness as well,
I did want to reference that we're doing
We're ramping up our work with the West Yorkshire Homelessness Forum as well, which brings together
the five local authorities to share best practise, but also to look at where we can approach
this better work in particular local authorities, adopt those in other local authority areas.
So it's quite new for the combined authority to be involved in this area and we're just
starting to build our work.
So one of the early things that we've done is held a workshop between the five authorities
and the RPs on the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership
to look at where RPs can maximise using their stock
to support discharges of homelessness duties
from temporary accommodation,
and that's an area that we're doing much more work
and similar on investment models
and looking at if there are particular ways
that we can bring empty private sector homes into use
to be used for discharging duties of homelessness.
So that's active work that we're doing
and trying to coordinate across the patch.
Other objective three, which is improving the quality of our housing stock works,
continuing to be driven forward under Home Energy West Yorkshire banner
to develop a 10 -year retrofit programme.
Gee's already mentioned the figures in terms of social housing decab
and the Warms Homes funding and the implementation happening at pace across those programmes.
And then finally, aligned to objective four,
creating places that support the wellbeing of our residents.
We're commencing work on the development of the spatial development strategy,
which is subject to conversation in the private session following the meeting.
And we also have a live consultation at the moment on the local nature recovery strategy that's open until the 16th of November, which would encourage committee members to promote for us and get as many responses as possible.
And this has strong links to the delivery of housing and particularly around how housing development can support nature recovery and that strategy.
So it's a reference to all the things we want to do in creating better quality development.
And there's a lot more in the paper.
I assume it as read but if members have any questions they are happy to take those. Thank
you, Chair. Thanks very much for that. I have any questions?
Yes, Fatima. So Rebecca, before I start asking my questions
it might be worth just making the committee aware that obviously as the inclusivity champion
part of my role is covered by the health and care system so a lot of my questions relate
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 0:29:04
to sort of health involvement, just to give you context. So the first one in objective
I'm just looking for a bit of assurance about the involvement of health related organisations,
just reflecting on your feedback, Councillor Lennox, about involving the voluntary community
sector within the buildings of temporary housing, a key enabler of targeting the most people
in need when it comes to health and care services, having them as close to people in those accommodations
as possible. Health's a key partner. Are they part of those
conversations and if not, is there some way in which I can help you bring them in? Because
I think it's really important that they're considered.
In objective two, and it's really great to see
the work particularly on the dementia task force
and the amazing impact that's had.
I suppose with that in mind, being thoughtful
about the contributions we had at the round table
with people with lived experience of dementia
and their carers, are they continue to be involved
in the conversations about adaptability,
and is any thought being given to the fact
that the NHS system is undergoing significant change?
We're thinking about where our strategic priorities
will be for certain places and dementia is going to be a specific area of focus for some
of the geographies in West Yorkshire. So I wonder whether there's an opportunity to join
up the places that are focusing on dementia with some of the work that you're doing so
that we're focusing our energies in the right places and we've got the right infrastructure
to support those really vulnerable communities. And then my final reflection is I also chaired
the sort of inclusion group work for the health and care system which focuses on prison leavers
and people that are homeless. And one of the things that we were really interested in in
the work that you described, particularly that's been convened by the Deputy Mayor of
Policing and Crime, is ensuring that we've got some health involvement in those conversations
as well, because it isn't just about the housing, it's the housing for health bit that I'm particularly
interested in. So if we could have maybe a further conversation outside, but a bit of
assurance in this meeting that there is some join up happening, I'd really appreciate it.
I do think it's an area we could strengthen is what I would start by saying, particularly
around the SPP.
Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:31:14
The West Yorkshire Housing Partnership has specific groups, a specific grouping on housing
health and homelessness that brings together the RP members and what they're doing in that
space.
But there's also linking the ICB, I know you pointed out the research that's happening
with ourselves.
There's, Karl, who's sort of there,
might correct me if I get the name wrong,
but there's the Housing and Health Network
that we also sit as part of that brings together
those health leads and housing leads into one place.
So those conversations are happening.
I think there's more work we can do
to integrate that into the SPP,
which myself and Tamsin will take away
to think about how we can do that in a bit more depth
into some of those ambitions we've got
on housing delivery.
So I think hopefully I've given some assurance
that we are doing it, but be really grateful
to pick up that conversation with you about how we might strengthen that further.
Thanks, Chair.
Just to build on the inclusivity agenda, to be honest, and possibly widen it to a social
cohesion narrative as well.
I think it's really encouraging to hear that there's been, you know, there's workarounds
sharing and learning across the local authorities taking place.
I would really encourage that is emphasised and made quite profound within the process.
And even at this stage to identify, to extend the local authorities themselves,
Karl Oxford (Private Sector Representative) - 0:32:34
drilling down on good practise in your own areas around how the housing strategy can manifest
in a way that it brings a more inclusive access for those underrepresented groups
and very strongly for us going forward is how that kind of cohesion across some of the
demographics can take place as well and you know because that is the biggest
agenda in our country right now in our region and finally where there
might well be opportunities in a in a practicable way to you know help with
the supply chain involvement of local enterprises in our communities and in
in the kind of development of the housing.
So just really to start doing some early work on that now
before the integrated settlement lands, to be honest.
Yeah, I can do.
We're already doing a lot of that work now, I think.
So inclusive growth is a strand and a theme
Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:33:40
throughout our housing strategy.
And I think what I'd also say on that is,
We know that our local authorities hold local groups with the VCSFE sector in their areas.
So one thing that we're working out and conscious of at the moment is that we don't step on
the toes of that, but look at a West Yorkshire level, how we can support some of those networks
that are happening.
So absolutely take your point.
I think we're starting to do some of that, but are conscious to not duplicate efforts
that are already happening locally as well in bringing some of those groups together.
So my team have done some work at looking at where that's happening already.
So for example, one of the kind of most long -standing ones is the Leeds homelessness prevention forum that brings together a lot of third sector partners
There's also similar one a similar one in Bradford that we're aware of but the other districts also have their own as well
So we're just working out where we are best value and a West Yorkshire level to that and can still be making sure that those
Links have been made and driven at a local level
Thanks Joe, yeah, thanks Rebecca and it's encouraging to hear that as well
Karl Oxford (Private Sector Representative) - 0:34:52
Look, I'm also a director of Yorkshire Sports Foundation and we're looking actively at how some of what we do in the active partnerships can kind of get more involved in kind of joining things up.
So where people may not be aware of what you're doing, Rebecca, I think it's very important, and I'm not really bothered about stepping on the toes, to be honest.
I think we just need, we've all got a job to do to make this thing work and work well.
So, I don't think it will be overly precious by saying, well, what is the actual plan at
the district level and how can we enhance that plan?
Thank you, Chair.
I could not agree with my learned colleague more.
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 0:35:37
And what I would like to sort of say and to give some assurance is that many local authority
organisations have already or are about to launch their community cohesion strategy.
And I think what you're alluding to, and I completely agree, is some assurance that when
we're thinking about community cohesion, we're not just thinking of the usual suspects or
partners in this space, but organisations like residence associations or people that
are working within supported housing are really clear about, one, the concerns people might
have living in those residences, but what their role is to promote cohesive communities
and that's for people from all different demographics.
While I have the floor chat, if I may,
just because Karl mentioned Yorkshire Sport,
we're about to launch a week of events at the end of November
supporting anti -racism in sport,
and it would be really great for colleagues, if they haven't already,
to Google what events are happening across the region and to support it,
which is a really practical collaborative effort of us working in partnership
to create a safer, more inclusive region.
Well, that was a good plug, wasn't it?
Anyone else want to comment on this?
Yes, sorry, yes.
Thanks.
Moving slightly away from the discussions we've had, I was just wondering if there's
any detail, and I'm sorry if I should have already seen this, about the strategy of how
the Warm Homes Fund is being applied or being handed out or being used, because obviously
Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:37:02
We have our target now for our EPCs and a lot of us will be doing as required by the
regulator, we're stepping up our home condition surveys and making sure we're getting further
Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council - 0:37:19
and deeper understanding of the quality of homes.
I'm just wondering if there's a strategy for how that funding is being used across the
region.
Cllr Jessica Lennox - 0:37:23
Do you want to comment?
Thank you.
Yes, so as you all know, the Warm Homes funding
was a competitive bidding round into government.
We drew together a consortium of West Yorkshire housing
providers who wanted to be part of that.
I think Leeds bid yourselves, actually, for your own funding.
So you also have had an allocation.
We have, I think, across the board,
Liz Hunter, Director (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:37:49
there was many more applications than government could possibly
fund at the moment.
So everybody had a reduction in what they asked for.
We are now working with those registered providers
who are in our consortium and I know that yourselves
are progressing the work.
Alongside that though, we are really keen
and one of the mayor's pledges is to have a plan
for social housing.
So what we are doing is we have started some work
with yourselves and Kirkley's and stockholders
and then the rest of the providers
and that cover the rest of the region
to start to build up a dashboard of all social homes and the requirements of what we think
we know about them at the moment and where they might need to get to as you say around
EPC but also those wider objectives around a warmer home and lower -income homes.
We really hope that piece of work will enable us to have a different conversation so rather
than saying to government, oh here's another bit, we want to say this is the scale of the
to do that. So there's two things I think happening. So we'll carry on with our Warholms funding but ideally we'd like to get into a place where we've got that better
sight of what's needed across our housing stock. And we know that's tricky because landlords have certain amounts of information and data but sometimes it's only when you start to get into properties
that you really understand that, which is also why we're supporting Kirk Lees on some of the survey data through that consortium that we've already got.
So I hope that's helpful but I'm happy to give you some more specifics around the LEADS
bit if that's not.
No thanks, it was the RPs bit that I was actually interested in mostly because obviously in
LEADS we did do a separate bit but it was the RPs bit because with our OBS law as well
coming and linking to what we've been speaking about with health and how it links with housing
it's just good to know that there is some sort of strategy across the region around
Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:39:41
Cllr Jessica Lennox - 0:39:44
it because some landlords will be better poised than others to be able to provide that data
and apply some of this funding as it comes through but there will be a lot for some landlords,
probably smaller ones, I don't know, I'm speculating, a lot of work to get the sort of inspections
and understanding of the stock up to speed so it's a really useful reply, thank you.
Okay, anyone else? Okay, can we note the report? We'll move on to item 8, the affordable housing
update. Rebecca, are you on again?
Thank you, Chair. So again I'll take the report as read, the main item for the committee to
is a submission of our regional priorities
to the social and affordable homes programme.
So as I said before, this is the first time mayors
have been able to set out their regional priorities
to form part of the prospectus for the programme.
So this includes the number of affordable homes
that are needed in the region,
Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:40:30
which for us is around 3 ,800 homes per year
if you're to add up what the affordable housing need
is across West Yorkshire.
We've also set out an ambition that 60 % of homes
should be for social rent,
which is aligned with the, in alignment with national ambitions.
And we've outlined priorities such as alignment with regeneration, our climate and environment
plan and things like how they mentor ready housing criteria as things we'd encourage
bidders into the new programme to align with in West Yorkshire.
We've also aligned our ambitions to the spatial priorities set out across the three corridors
of opportunity in the local growth plan so they become a thread through the areas where
we want to see development and particularly affordable housing delivered.
In terms of next steps, we expect the programme to be launched shortly in the next few days,
hopefully, where the regional priorities will be outlined alongside the prospectus for the
wider programme.
So just moving on in terms of delivery of affordable homes, as Guy referenced over the
last four years, we've seen a year -on -year increase in affordable housing delivery in
West Yorkshire.
We've got a strong partnership of RPs in the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership, which
Rachel would usually be here to represent the partnership at the meeting.
But that partnership deliver around 81 % of all affordable homes in West Yorkshire and
we've seen their share of what they've been delivering going up over the last four years
as well.
So, following the announcements of the £39 billion programme, the 1 % rent settlement
for the sector, rent convergence and other reforms, we've carried out an exercise to
understand how that impacts the development appetite and capacity of those registered
providers in West Yorkshire, so what opportunity there is to ramp up delivery in the region.
I provided in the report a few bullet points on some of the themes that are worth noting
that have come back from that. So whilst many partners have begun to model
what that means for their business plans, most of them are reporting it helps predominantly
to smooth out delivery programmes. So previous stop start programmes meant there
was a lot of peaks and troughs in delivery, which were quite a big barrier.
So a 10 -year certainty of a programme and a 10 -year rent settlement helped to even that
out across the period so we should see a steadier delivery trajectory.
Partners where we're putting a really healthy stream of opportunities across West Yorkshire,
particularly land and package deals coming forward more, where a private developer will
come forward with an offer of affordable homes for an RP to take up as something that's becoming
more and more common and there's a lot of partnerships being developed directly between
developers and RPs that are becoming more common across the patch.
So, I guess on the other side of it, whilst partners are modelling their development capacity,
many of them are also seeing a need to invest more in their existing stock, which is another
pull on resources. And we're hearing that quite a lot from partners that the rent settlement
and rent convergence in particular, any additional financial capacity that's being created through
that is a lot of that is needing to go into existing investment in their existing homes
to bring them up to new decent home standards which are expected to implement the minimum
energy efficiency standards, et cetera.
So some of that additional financial capacity is constrained and can entirely be put into
new development and that's something that we're hearing across the board and not just
in West Yorkshire but nationally as well.
So just in terms of the next steps, we're working with MHCLG to refine and publish the
regional priorities as I said,
which we expect will be in the next few days.
We've just undertaken an exercise to carry out
the data collection across West George Housing Partnership
on their development pipelines.
So we're just reviewing that data now
and hope to bring it to the next committee meeting.
And we have our strategic place partnership board
happening next week, which is chaired by the mayor,
and where we will discuss how we put those regional
priorities into action and how the mayor will get
greater oversight of affordable housing delivery
in the region.
So not just saying what the priorities are,
how do we measure how that's gonna be delivered
over the course of the programme. So again, happy to take any questions from the committee.
Thank you, Chair.
Thanks for that question.
You started to answer my question, Rebecca, in your summary, because the bit that I was
particularly interested in, and I think it's really important actually, Chair, that we
note as a committee the fact that there's been some thought given to the levels of deprivation
and about inclusive outcomes and the fact that there's been a real focus that the housing
Fatima Khan-Shah (Inclusivity Champion) - 0:44:49
is where it is much needed. I suppose my question is how do we know that it's getting there
and how do we know that we're delivering what we're aspiring to do and you started to describe
that the mayor is involved and will be convening some sort of committee to do that. My question
is what level of expertise, now you're getting the right expertise when it comes to identifying
those metrics and is there any further support needed that you may need from me or from some
of the teams that I'm supporting?
Yeah, so the mayor convenes the Strategic Place Partnership Board which is the forum
that will oversee it because it's new.
That's the subject of conversation next week.
In terms of the metrics, we do already have suggestions
Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:45:22
on how we measure them and do measure them in West Yorkshire
in some of our dashboard indicators.
And my team are developing how we look at the various
different protected characteristics, et cetera,
and how we can build that in.
Some of that's challenging because it's data
that's not always collected by partners
and we're relying on what data and information
partners collect as to how strong we can make
some of our data as well.
And so definitely fatter me if you've,
there's areas where you might be aware of that we're not, we definitely need to link
up with you on that. So, would welcome that. In terms of those kind of voices and representation,
I think that we try and pick that up through the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership predominantly
and the engagement that they have with their residents and the knowledge they have of their
local areas and the patches where they operate.
It's not really a question, it's more just a comment that we had just recently in October
our annual housing forum which was attended by housing developers, registered providers,
RPs, voluntary sexual organisations, Homes England and other partners and it provided
an occasion for contributors to showcase Colterdale's recent successful developments and promote
Cllr Sarah Courtney (Calderdale Council) - 0:46:36
future opportunities. I think there was also a sharing of policy updates, good practise,
challenges, implications and an opportunity for people to network across the sector and
I think it was generally seemed to be quite a successful event. And I think overall we
are, we've got work going on in Colterdale with World Green and Walson and the other
which will bring forward 60 new affordable homes and keep note who are one of our collaborative
partners, will also commence its building programme, now, any time, so which includes
around 54 new affordable homes, which will be delivered as part of its housing led regeneration
across three sites.
So I think that's where we're in our numbers might not be big but compared to some of the others, but we're doing what we can yeah
Thanks cheque sorry to be
Much to misunderstood this but can I just clarify on the three point seven?
Cllr Moses Crook Kirklees Council - 0:47:50
It says there's evident demand for affordable housing across the region with 97 ,000 households on a on a waiting list
Can I just clarify what that waiting list is?
Is that the social homes waiting list?
And I just wanted to make the distinction
because with reference to Fatima's point
about correctly identifying need,
there is a very distinct difference
between social and affordable, thank you.
Yeah, so that 97 ,000 is taken from housing registers
of each of the local authorities.
So that's the waiting lists?
Yeah, yeah.
Could we ask that that be very specifically identified
as social home waiting list?
Because it is very different.
Affordable home is 80 % of market value
is a bit of a non -specific, I mean in my ward for example,
affordable is a bit of a misnomer
because 80 % of market value would still be very expensive.
But actually it's really important to identify
the social home need as distinct
and as has been identified by the government
and with respect to the 39 billion,
and it was 60 % attributed to development
of social homes in particular, thank you.
Yeah, just it's on the very same point really.
We've got, we in our most recent Schmar and Leeds,
which is last year now, so it's already like three years
out of date that information, but we looked at average
earnings and Leeds and applied percentage of 25 %
of your income as housing cost and looked at what the
different tenures were against the average earning.
And the only kind of tenure that was affordable
to people with the average earning in Leeds is social rent,
Cllr Jessica Lennox - 0:49:22
Affordable rent as it as it averages out in Leeds becomes above that line that we were that was that key line for people
25 % of their income and on rent so that's in our shma and I'm sure it's the same for the authorities
If I may just just just a point of clarity on how the
Housing registers work because they just capture anyone who's waiting for an affordable or a social home
Rebecca Greenwood, Officer (West Yorkshire Combined Authority) - 0:49:43
So we can't distinguish between them who could afford which because of how they work and that's a requirement
Under the housing at 1996 that has to be a single housing waiting list in a local authority area
Which does make it challenging so recognise your point but there isn't two separate waiting lists and just as a just a point of clarity
There is just one for affordable or social housing
But the level of need amongst that is then determined through through banding or whatever the criteria is under each local authority
Cllr Denise Jeffrey, Chair (Wakefield Council) - 0:50:24
Thank you, I keep forgetting that. The recommendation is that we note the updates and the submission
made to the government regarding the regional priorities of the new social and affordable
homes programme. And we agree with that.
Okay, thank you and then the dates of the next meeting and seems a long way off but this year's gone in a flash

8 Affordable Housing Update

5th of March
26

9 Date of the Next Meeting

Okay, and that's the end of the formal meeting
We going into the workshop now if anybody wants to have two minutes to get a drink or whatever and then we'll start