MORE than 150 houses built in Bradford by the government body responsible for improving affordable housing over the last three years were unaffordable.

Newly-released figures show that Homes England, whose stated aim is “to deliver a sustained improvement in affordability”, built 834 homes in Bradford between April 2015 and March 2018.

Of those, just 81% were defined as affordable - including social housing and homes with rent capped at no more than 80% of the local market average. Properties bought through a scheme such as Help To Buy or shared ownership are also included.

It means 161 of the homes, built by private contractors with support from the Government, were sold or rented at market value.

The chief executive of housing charity Shelter, Polly Neate, said that the Government needs to do more to ensure sufficient affordable housing is available.

She said: “We’re in the depths of a housing crisis, so it’s hugely concerning to see the Government building even fewer affordable homes than in recent years.

“Our analysis shows that over a million households are now stuck on social housing waiting lists, so we urgently need the Government to come up with a new plan for social housing.”

The affordable housing situation looks likely to improve slowly in the near future in Bradford, with 92% of the 309 new builds started by Homes England over the last year designated as affordable.

Homes England says it supports building to fulfil all the market’s requirements.

Nick Walkley, the chief executive of Homes England said: “These official figures show that the overall number of homes being built continues to steadily increase, but we know there is more to do.

“Homes England will bring together our money, expertise, and planning and compulsory purchase powers to secure the delivery of new homes, where they are most needed, and improve affordability that can be sustained over time.

“We are investing over £3 billion of affordable housing grant over the 2016-21 period to help housing associations, local councils and developers build affordable homes for communities across England, and are working closely with the sector to realise their ambitions for affordable housing.”

Housing available for social rental, where rents are typically lower than in other affordable housing, accounted for fewer than 4% of the properties completed by Homes England over the three years. In Bradford, none of the new builds were for social rental.

Labour’s Shadow Housing Secretary, John Healey, said: “The number of Government-funded social rented homes being built has fallen by almost 90% since 2010.

“A year since Theresa May admitted that the Conservatives haven’t given enough attention to social housing, it’s clear ministers are still not building the homes the country needs.”

Across England, more than a quarter of the 90,000 homes completed by Homes England between 2015-16 and 2017-18 were not designated as affordable - 24,000 were offered to prospective owners or tenants at market rates.