Leeds City Council has approved a landmark 10‑year strategy that aims to transform the scale and pace of affordable housing delivery across the city, marking what the city hopes will be a new chapter in its already successful record.
Between 2022 and 2025, Leeds delivered nearly 1,900 affordable homes, many for social rent – a result described as a major achievement of the council’s previous Housing Growth Action Plan. Building on this momentum, the newly unveiled Leeds Affordable Housing Strategy 2026–2036 sets out a bold vision to position the city at the forefront of national efforts to deliver 1.5 million new homes.
Approved at the council’s executive board meeting on Wednesday, 11 March, the strategy outlines how innovative design, strong partnerships and targeted investment can place Leeds on a trajectory to deliver 1,500 affordable homes per year by 2036.
The LAHS acknowledges that the ambition is challenging but details a clear set of actions designed to make it a reality. These include:
1. Maximising Council Resources
The council will continue using its own funding tools, such as Right to Buy receipts, to build or acquire new homes through the well‑established Council Housing Growth Programme.
2. Leveraging National Funding
Leeds aims to take full advantage of opportunities presented by major new financial programmes, including central government’s £39bn Social and Affordable Homes Programme, which could accelerate construction across the city.
3. Embedding Flexibility in the Leeds Local Plan
Ensuring the updated Leeds Local Plan contains modern, responsive policies will help unlock land and streamline the planning process to support sustained affordable housing growth.
4. Supporting Registered Providers
Registered providers such as housing associations will receive council grant funding and access to ringfenced land, enabling them to scale up their delivery programmes.
5. Delivering Affordable Homes in the City Centre
The council will work with public and private partners to ensure future mixed‑use neighbourhoods in the city centre include substantial levels of affordable housing.
The strategy highlights several significant developments delivered during the 2022–2025 period, including:
- Throstle Rec, Middleton – 176 new affordable homes, including the 60‑apartment Gascoigne House extra care facility, delivered through the CHGP.
- Leonora House, Railway Street – A £12m scheme by 54North Homes, comprising 58 flats for social rent, supported by funding from the council, the West Yorkshire Combined Authority (WYCA) and Homes England, and facilitated by the council’s sale of the site.
- Colliers Park, Oulton – A Leeds Federated Housing Association development, backed by £2.8m of council grant funding, replacing outdated 1940s prefab housing with modern, energy‑efficient homes.
- Major registered provider‑led schemes such as Points Cross (The Guinness Partnership), Saxton Heights (Vico Homes) and Dyecoats (Latimer/Clarion), which together will deliver hundreds of new affordable homes.
Of the nearly 1,900 affordable homes delivered between 2022 and 2025:
- 25% were built or acquired directly by the council
- 40% came via registered providers and third‑sector partners
- 35% were secured through planning agreements with private developers
This blend of delivery routes is expected to remain crucial during 2026–2036.
Councillor Mary Harland, Executive Member for Housing at Leeds City Council, said:
“Meeting the housing needs of people in Leeds is at the heart of the council’s mission to tackle inequality, build thriving communities and provide opportunities that work for everyone.
“We are determined, therefore, to use every tool at our disposal to deliver – either directly or through partnership working – good-quality affordable homes across the city.
“The results achieved in recent years have been really impressive – particularly given the viability challenges that affordable schemes can face – but we are fully aware that there is still much to do.
“The vision set out in the Leeds Affordable Housing Strategy shows how the council, in collaboration with partners, can continue to move forward over the next decade and deliver even more of the kind of homes that will have a transformational impact on people’s lives.”
The LAHS emphasises that Leeds’s productive relationships with WYCA, Homes England, housing associations, developers and the West Yorkshire Housing Partnership will be essential to unlocking further affordable housing growth. The council has designed the strategy collaboratively, ensuring all major partners have shaped its priorities and delivery model.
As Leeds prepares for a decade of large‑scale housebuilding, the strategy signals clear intent: to grow faster, collaborate more deeply, and put affordable, high‑quality homes at the heart of the city’s future.
Image credit: iStock
