HOUSEBUILDING has collapsed in most of the region, The Northern Echo can reveal – despite Government claims of a “success story”.

The Northern Echo:

The number of ‘affordable homes’ being built has fallen in 13 of 17 areas since the Coalition came to power, after housing programmes were axed.

And it has plunged sharply in many areas, including in Hartlepool (down 62.5 per cent), Middlesbrough (down 59.1 per cent) and Stockton-on-Tees (down 54.5 per cent).

The lack of new homes is even more acute in North Yorkshire, in Hambleton (down 76.9 per cent), Ryedale (down 66.7 per cent) and York (down 85.2 per cent).

In Richmondshire, not a single affordable home – those available at lower rents, or for shared ownership – was completed in 2013-14.

Yet, in 2010-11, the year the Coalition came to power, 60 were built, the official figures show.

Only South Tyneside, where 1,050 affordable homes were completed last year, bucked the trend, cutting the decline across the region to 15.3 per cent.

Last week, the department for communities and local government (DCLG) claimed its record on affordable housing since 2010 was a “clear success story”.

It said that nearly 200,000 such homes had been built, including 2,380 in the North-East and North Yorkshire.

But ministers totted up four years’ of figures to reach that tally – and the statistics for previous years reveal a different story.

Rachel Fisher, head of policy at the National Housing Federation, said: “It is nowhere near enough.

“Demand is still far exceeding supply. England needs around 240,000 new homes a year. We need to build more of the right homes, in the right place, at the right price.”

Emma Reynolds, for Labour, said: “We have repeatedly called for action on housing supply, particularly on the need for more affordable homes, but this government has failed to act.

“Under David Cameron, the number of homes built has fallen to the lowest level in peacetime since the 1920s.”

The chronic shortage of housing is an issue rising up the political agenda, with hundreds of thousands of families languishing on council waiting lists.

Meanwhile, town halls remain barred from borrowing money to build homes, as the Government relies on the private sector to step in.

But Kris Hopkins, the housing minister said: “Our affordable house-building efforts are a clear success story, with nearly 200,000 new affordable homes delivered since April 2010.

“It means families have new homes available to them, whether to rent at an affordable rate or to buy through our shared ownership schemes.”

Across England, 41,654 affordable homes were built last year – well down on the 53,172 in the year before the last general election