Affordable housing shake-up a 'baby step' to fix market

COUNCIL PLANS TO DELIVER UP TO 114 NEW HOMES

- By GARETH LIGHTFOOT

A SHAKE-UP to affordable housing has been hailed as a “baby step” to fixing a broken market in Stockton.

Leaders have agreed a new “hybrid” system for affordable housing - homes for sale or rent at discounted rates for people whose needs are not met by the private market - at a Stockton Council cabinet meeting. They approved plans to use five sites on Raleigh Road, Londonderry Road, Stirling House, Parkside House and Thornaby Baths to deliver between 67 and 114 new homes.

The move comes at a time when almost 3,000 households had an active Tees Valley Homefinder housing register account, but only 678 properties were advertised in 2024-5, with an average of 102 new-build affordable homes delivered each year. Almost half of homeless priority cases needed one-bedroom homes, but no new builds were one-bedroom properties last year.

To meet these “critical” needs, the authority may use its own land and assets for affordable homes, as well as considering such homes in regeneration work for central Stockton, north Thornaby and Billingham town centre.

It hopes the new homes will bring investment into the borough and support the population, with demand outstripping supply in recent housing offers.