YORK councillors are prepared to allow builders to reduce the percentage of houses they build for people on low income in the city.

They hope the move will lead to more “affordable” houses being built overall in the city and cut the housing waiting list.

Currently, at least 50 per cent of developments of 15 plus houses in the city have to be “affordable” homes. The number of “affordable” homes on a site affects the profits a builder makes.

But members of City of York executive agreed to cut that to 35 per cent for greenfield sites and 25 per cent for brownfield sites.

And if developers can show that the only way they can get banks to lend to them is to make a profit of 25 per cent on a site, councillors are prepared for the figure to go down by another 3.5 per cent.

Councillors hope the move will reduce the 3,000 people on the York waiting list for social housing by encouraging developers to start building instead of delaying until the housing market recovers.

“This waiting list is just going to grow,” said Coun Steve Galloway, city strategy boss. “In this way we are able to bring forward more homes for people that they are able to afford.”