Celebration for 126 new affordable homes

Published by Max Salsbury for 24dash.com in Housing and also in Communities, Development

A programme which has seen 126 affordable homes built in rural North Yorkshire in the last 12 months will be celebrated between the 1st - 5th October.

The North Yorkshire Strategic Housing Partnership is hosting the Rural Housing Week, which will bring together rural communities local authorities, professional bodies and housing providers for a week of events across the county.

Events will kick off with a one-day launch conference held in Skipton.

The rest of the week will see the openings of a number of recently completed schemes –including six homes in Swainby and the YMCA in Richmond and visits to numerous developments in the districts of Selby, Ryedale, Scarborough, Harrogate and the National Parks.  

The week will close at a special event with primary schoolchildren in Osmotherley – a village where 12 affordable homes are under construction.

Rural Housing week will celebrate the rural housing enabler programme which delivered the 126 new affordable homes, and that has another 96 earmarked for completion within the next ten months.

The week is being supported by Registered Providers, the Homes and Communities Agency, the National Housing Federation and professional bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Housing and the Royal Town Planning Institute.  

Housing organisations and providers, government agencies, parish councils, experts, landowners, councillors and communities from across North Yorkshire are being invited to take part in the weeks of events.

“Rural Housing Week will promote the successes we have had in delivering affordable housing across North Yorkshire,” said  Councillor Richard Foster, Chair of the North Yorkshire RHE Network.
 
“We have enabled many local families to remain - or return – to the villages they grew up in.   Our schemes have also seen many extended families formed, providing care and support for young and old residents alike, and keeping rural villages sustainable.

"With this support many have been able to take up local employment helping to sustain local Post Office and Village Shops and maintaining school rolls.  Through rural affordable housing we are seeing our communities thriving rather than becoming ageing dormitories with no young families.”