Object

Representation ID: 18573

Received: 11/10/2021

Respondent: Dudley Labour Group

Agent: Councillor Qadar Zada

Affordable Housing


The purpose of the plan is to ensure that there is a sufficient number of homes to meet housing need in Dudley. However, just as the Labour Group is not convinced that the projected need for total housing is accurate, in the absence of any transparent formula, we are also not convinced that the figures determining the percentage of affordable housing required is accurate or sufficient and we are very concerned about the lack of affordable housing identified for a borough with overall low levels of income, and for people whose economic status and employment prospects are and will continue to be affected by such factors as the pandemic and the rising cost of living. If it is accurate that
32.7% of housing needs to be affordable over the plan period under the Black Country Housing Market Assessment, we are concerned that the plan sets a minimum requirement for affordable housing on sites between 10% and 30%, which risks not meeting that target. We are concerned that these proposed homes will lead to accommodation that will attract buyers from outside of the Borough and therefore Dudley residents will be making sacrifices from which they nor their families will receive any benefit.


Furthermore, the Council is offering it’s own land for sale. So far, there has been no satisfactory response to requests to the Council to explain why land is being sold off to developers when the Council itself could borrow to build its own affordable housing for sale or rent to help achieve what we consider to be the under-estimated targets it has been set.