Sub-regional Organisations - Housing

West Yorkshire Housing Partnership

West Yorkshire Housing Partnership (WYHP) is a strategic partnership which has evolved during the last three years out of joint working in the sub-region (Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees, Leeds, Wakefield), particularly around the need for a shared strategic response to the challenges of changing demand and housing obsolescence.

WYHP’s Board consists of elected members with housing / regeneration portfolios from each of the five West Yorkshire local authorities; representatives of Registered Social Landlords (RSLs), the National Housing Federation north, the Home Builders’ Federation / developers, the Council of Mortgage Lenders / lenders (through HBoS) and key regional / national agencies (Government Office for Yorkshire and the Humber, the Housing Corporation, English Partnerships). WYHP also has a Forum (which is a wider network of housing-related and Local Strategic Partnership-linked organisations across the sub-region) and has established a Management Group and a small number of work groups. The Board meets bi-monthly, as does the Management Group and the Forum twice a year.

WYHP sees itself as working together to contribute to sustainable economic growth and an enhanced quality of life in West Yorkshire by improving the sub-region’s housing offer and people’s access to it. It aims to do this by:

• Understanding housing markets
• Aligning strategies
• Securing and targeting investment

WYHP has active links with Yorkshire Forward, West Yorkshire Economic Partnership and the Yorkshire and Humber Assembly (planning and policy) – as well as with a range of other stakeholders. WYHP also works with the Green Corridor Alliance (Wakefield, Barnsley, Doncaster) and Golden Triangle Partnership (Leeds, Harrogate, York) and is taking part in wider initiatives such as a Regional Loans Scheme.

WYHP is also engaged in partnership work beyond sub-regional boundaries (with districts in South and North Yorkshire) and is actively involved in the evolving Leeds City Region work, particularly around sustainable communities and ‘residential offer’. WYHP also pursues opportunities to make the case regionally and nationally for additional and longer-term housing investment for West Yorkshire.

Investment Programmes Summary 2006-08

Research Programme

Programme		Funding		Comp. / levered in investment
SRHP		£130m		£150m
HMR		£18.25m		£82m
TOTAL		£380m

WYHP has commissioned with partners during the last 18 months research on Sub-Regional Housing Market Change (Outside UK Sept 2005); Housing Stock Condition in West Yorkshire (Building Research Establishment Mar 2006); and Housing & Economic Growth in the Leeds City Region (CURS June 2006). Research into housing markets influenced by Black & Minority Ethnic communities in West Yorkshire is starting (August 2006) and we will then commission work to improve our understanding of the private rented sector across West Yorkshire. Please contact us if you want more information about any of the above.

WYHP Forum

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