The Bradford district is facing a growing housing crisis, with nowhere near enough affordable homes being built to meet an ever-increasing demand.

There are a number of issues conspiring to exacerbate the problem, but the bottom line is developers do not want to build social housing in the area as, quite simply, it is not profitable enough.

And with only around 40 per cent of the total overall housing target of 2,300 new homes being built per year, it is not surprising that the level of affordable housing is likely to be lower still.

Figures obtained through the Freedom of Information Act show that nine new developments don’t even appear to have met the minimum target for affordable housing of 15 per cent.

The real pressure point is where is the affordable housing going to come from?

This paper has long campaigned, through our Save Our Green Spaces campaign, for the huge amounts of brownfield sites in the district to be brought back into use.

That provides the where. The how is more problematic.

But the challenge facing the Council must be to find a way to allow the scores of derelict homes, schools, pubs, factories, and many other types of building in the Bradford area to be made more attractive for redevelopment, whether by private firms or through partnership projects.