The council is looking to build about 300 low-cost homes at a key site in Hove through its joint venture with a leading housing association.
The scheme, which would cost about £50 million overall, would be among the first decisions to be made by the new Labour cabinet running Brighton and Hove City Council.
The cabinet is due to meet for the first time on Thursday 27 June when it is expected to approve a £30 million budget for about 180 of the 300 proposed flats to go on land at the top of Sackville Road.
Build to rent developer Moda has recently started marketing the hundreds of homes that it has been putting up as part of a £160 million scheme on the old Sackville Trading Estate.
The northern section of the nine-acre site has not yet been developed and housing chiefs believe that it would be a good spot for more council homes.
The decision is expected to hand a third project to Home for Brighton and Hove, the joint venture with the Hyde Group housing association.
The joint venture, which was incorporated seven years ago, has built 240 low-cost homes at Denman Place, off Coldean Lane, Brighton, and just over 100 homes in Clarendon Place, Portslade.
Those behind the joint venture planned to build 1,000 low-cost homes – some to rent and some for shared ownership – for working families who were being priced out of the local market.
If the deal goes through, the site could enable the joint venture to almost double the number of completions.
The council’s forward plan flagged up a report that is due to be published next Monday (17 June).
The forward plan said: “This report recommends the purchase and development for affordable housing of part of the Sackville Trading Estate by the Homes for Brighton and Hove joint venture.”
The council said: “A proposal for Homes for Brighton and Hove to take on the development of around 300 affordable homes will be discussed at the first meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council’s new cabinet on Thursday 27 June.
“If agreed by both partners, a site will be acquired within the Sackville Trading Estate in Hove to deliver a mix of council-rented and shared ownership homes.
“The intention would be to let the council-rented homes at social housing rent levels to people in housing need on the city’s housing register.
“With more than 7,500 households currently on the housing register and nearly 1,800 in emergency and temporary accommodation, increasing the number of affordable homes in the city is crucial.
“The current planning permission on the site covers the development of supported housing. This means another planning application will have to be submitted and granted if affordable housing is to be built on the site.
“The site purchase will only proceed if this new planning permission is granted.
“Homes for Brighton and Hove was set up to provide much needed low-cost homes for people in the city and is an important part of the council’s ambitious programmes to build new council homes.
“To date, the partnership has successfully developed two projects, at Denman Place, in Coldean, and Clarendon Place, in Portslade, delivering a total of 346 affordable homes, 176 of which are council-rented homes let at social rents.”
The original development scheme had leasehold housing for the elderly to buy into on this proposed site, owned by a sort of Housing Association, if I remember correctly. The company withdrew after planning consent. Have I remembered that correctly?
Hove needs all the housing it can get – preferably affordable – but where are the Doctors and Dentists to serve this increase in population going to come from? Current surgeries are all full to bursting, so is a medical centre going to be included in the plans?
This in principle should be a good idea but what will happen is just like that expensive shared housing development on Grand Avenue this area will just become a no go area as the council ships in the worst druggies in the city. Such a shame we can’t go back to the days when housing like this would have been prioritised for people that worked on low incomes and added value to the community such as bus drivers and cleaners.
I think in those days UK Plc had a few more quid spare…
This is a better idea than trying to force developers to allocate “affordable” housing in other developments..