Up to 46 new council homes could be built in Caerphilly County Borough as the local authority bids to plug a housing shortfall.
Around 4,300 people are currently on the housing register, with general accommodation application from single adults and OAPs making up half of the waiting list.
Expectant families, and those with a child or more than four children, account for more than 25% of those waiting to be housed.
Caerphilly Council’s housing stock has been “significant depleted” in recent years through the Right to Buy scheme, according to a report.
The report continues: “Whilst the council has worked very successfully with its housing association partners to deliver new affordable housing, there has been no new council housing development mainly due to funding limitations.”
But the council could soon make use of a housing finance grant programme, recently announced by the Welsh Government, to meet demand.
Homes built using the Affordable Housing Grant (AHG) would form part of the council’s housing revenue stock account (HRA).
Developments on HRA land would be subject to a 20% discount by the Welsh Government.
The report, which is due to be discussed by scrutiny committees this week, outlines plans to build 46 new-build council houses on five HRA sites in Blackwood, Risca, Penyrheol and Trecenydd.
The projects have been estimated to cost under £5 million to build.
Such an investment is deemed to be affordable within the council’s business plan based on projections for general inflation and increases to rent, staff and construction costs.
The current AHG allocation would fund 58 per cent of the total build cost but to receive it, work on the potential sites would have to start before March 31, 2019.
The report says: “Caerphilly’s allocation of AHG for 2019/20 is £1,812,867 and it is therefore proposed that feasibility studies be carried out for all sites listed to determine which of these could be progressed in line with the grant conditions.”
Other options for increasing council housing supply include the purchasing of private land, redevelopment of existing HRA sites or reacquiring empty private properties.
Developers will be required to create new employment and apprenticeship opportunities while developing potential sites, according to chief housing officer and author of the report Shaun Couzens.
“Proposals to increase the supply of council homes within the borough present a unique opportunity to create opportunities for residents who are currently unemployed or economically inactive,” the report says.
Data compiled by the council shows that an extra 282 units of affordable units per year would be required to meet demand.
This is significantly lower than the 964 per year targeted by the council’s local development plan, and such targets have already failed with only 251 affordable homes built since 2010.