Home is where the heart is...

IT hasn't taken Christine Storrs long to put her finger on the single most pressing issue facing York in terms of housing need. "Affordability," she says instantly. "High property values and relatively low incomes mean a lot of people can't get on to the home ownership ladder."

Not bad for somebody who only took over as chief executive of the York Housing Association in January. She's clearly not been slow in getting to grips with the job.

The problem of affordable housing in York may not be unique, but it is significant, she says. The danger when homes become priced out of the reach of a sizeable group of people is that the less well off become marginalised, and pushed out to huge estates of social housing on the edge of a city.

There's nothing wrong with a city becoming prosperous, as York so clearly is. "But there is a balance to be struck. We need to encourage prosperity, but we don't want to marginalise," she says. "We have learned through experience that creating huge rafts of social housing in some parts of the community can lead to peripheral estates that have virtually collapsed and become no-go areas."

She doesn't think that will happen in York, which has a history of integrating home-owners and home-renters: but it is the responsibility of all those involved in providing low-cost rented housing to make sure it doesn't, she says.

So, without creating those "huge rafts of social housing", what can be done in York to address the needs of people who can't afford the spiralling cost of buying a new home? Christine fully supports the former Labour administration's policy of requiring developers to ensure that 50 per cent of all new homes are "affordable", and hopes the new Lib Dem-led council will stick to it.

Fifty per cent is about the right level to set in the present climate of massive demand for cheaper housing in York, she says. "In the longer term we would have to see. But demand for cheaper homes is so much higher than supply at the moment."

She doesn't have much time for property developers who claim that if the affordable housing element is set too high, they will simply stop building in York because profit margins would be too low. "I have not seen any evidence that would support developers having any problems selling properties in these developments," she says.

What if they could make greater profit margins by building elsewhere? "I haven't seen any developers walking away from York," she says pithily.

It will take some time for the benefits of the 50 per cent affordable requirement to filter through, however, so more needs to be done elsewhere to ensure that those on lower incomes can still afford to live in York.

The Government's scheme for helping key workers such as nurses and teachers get a foot on the property ladder through subsidy and different approaches to finance is making "some small inroads" at a national level, she says: but she's not sure how much is happening in York.

Another method which can help those wanting to get a foot on the housing ladder is 'shared ownership', where a house buyer buys only a share in a property, meaning they have to pay less initially, and yet still share in some of the increase in a property's value when it comes to be sold.

York Housing Association doesn't get involved in home ownership schemes, so that's not something it can help with. But what it is actively looking at, says Christine, is private sector leasing - where developers lease new homes to the housing association, which then effectively sub-lets them. The housing association can guarantee to provide tenants, so the developer does not run the risk of having property standing empty; in return for which the developer will be expected to offer the homes at slightly below market rates.

It may not help the less well-off get a foot on the housing ladder, but it can give them access to decent housing at an affordable rate.

The York Housing Association's main business, however, remains in providing housing for those on the city council's housing register and supported housing for vulnerable people, such as the elderly or those with mental health problems.

With about 600 single and family properties across the city, it is not a huge player, Christine admits, but it does know what is needed in York and is keen to work together with other organisations such as the city council, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and other housing associations, to meet those needs.

Christine says what drew her to the city was the ethos of the York Housing Association, which very much tallied with her own. "My main concern is to make sure that needs people who are less likely to be able to speak for themselves and have a strong voice are taken into account and they are not forgotten or marginalised," she says.

She wants to expand the association's work with vulnerable people, using its experienced team of support workers to help those with mental health problems, the homeless and even young offenders to make a go of living independently in supported accommodation. The association is also working with the city council on a scheme to make private rented properties available to homeless families who would otherwise be put in B&B accommodation while their housing needs were assessed. "That's a much better solution for people with children, and it is something we would want to do more of," she says.

Her credentials for working with vulnerable people are impeccable. Brought up in Bradford, she did a teacher training qualification in Newcastle and for many years worked in the careers service in the North East.

Her first housing job came in 1985, working to provide temporary accommodation for single homeless women in Newcastle. She spent four years on the national executive committee of CHAR (the National Campaign for Homeless People), and then joined the Newcastle-based North British Housing Association. In London she worked for a specialised housing association which provided care and support for 3,000 people, some of whom were sleeping rough.

When the chance to head up York Housing Association came up she decided it would be great to come North again. As a 51-year-old single divorcee with two grown-up children there was nothing to hold her back.

The chance of living in York itself only made her more keen, she says.

"It's a lovely city. It has some of the attractions of London - beautiful river, rich history, vibrancy in terms of restaurants, cafes, things to do, that comes with being a tourist city. And the people are so much friendlier. It is hard to find that in London, where people are in a much tougher environment and it shows in their behaviour."

But she says the real joy is that it is so much easier to get around. "I know people think York has a traffic problem," she says. "But believe me, it is nothing by comparison!"

Updated: 10:27 Friday, May 16, 2003