A YORK MP has claimed affordable home-building in the city and across Yorkshire has “collapsed” after Government figures showed work did not start on any new properties last year.

Official statistics from the Homes and Communities Agency said construction on 34 new affordable properties began in York in 2010/11, but the level dropped to zero in 2011/12 in a decline mirrored across the rest of the country.

The figures revealed the number of affordable homes throughout Yorkshire and the Humber fell by 79 per cent last year – from 2,503 in 2010/11 to 531 – and York Central MP Hugh Bayley said they proved Government housing and economic policies are not working and “urgent action” is needed.

He said: “We have a growing housing crisis and the Government’s policies are making it worse. They need to think less about grabbing headlines and more about tackling this worsening crisis.”

Mr Bayley said Labour wanted to repeat the bankers’ bonus tax to allow 25,000 new affordable homes to be built and cut VAT on home improvements by five per cent for one year.

Developers in York have claimed the targets for the number of affordable homes required in large-scale developments – 25 per cent for brownfield sites and 35 per cent on greenfield schemes – meant many house-building schemes in the city were not viable.

Quantity surveyor Paul Cordock, who has criticised City of York Council’s affordable housing policies, said: “The current figures might stack up in the case of a forced sale, but otherwise they are nigh on impossible.”