Wakefield Housing Plan 2026-2029

The core vision of our Housing Plan is:

For Wakefield to have a robust housing offer that promotes regeneration and economic growth. This includes a wide range of high-quality and diverse housing options that meet the needs of all residents. Our goal is to create sustainable communities with affordable and healthy homes for everyone.

It is important that our residents live in the good quality, healthy homes, that they need and want. A robust local housing offer is essential to support economic growth, build stronger communities, and improve health and well-being. Our Housing Plan sets out how we will continue to work across the Council and with our partners to make this a reality.

Work is underway to produce a new refreshed and updated Housing Plan 2026-29. A consultation exercise during summer 2026 will gather feedback from our residents and partners to inform and guide the priorities for the new Housing Plan. When complete, these priorities and the new Plan document for the next three years will be included below.

The delivery plan programme themes for this new Housing Plan 2026-29 will remain:

• Theme 1 – More Homes – High quality housing growth
• Theme 2 – Better Homes – Safe and healthy homes that meet local need.
• Theme 3 - Sustainable Communities – Resilient people and sustainable housing

 Wakefield Housing Plan 2023-2026

The Wakefield Housing Plan 2023-2026 has now ended. Much was achieved over the last three years, but we know there is still more to do.

A snapshot of the excellent progress through this Plan includes:

• 1,698 new homes built including 587 affordable homes (for the first two years 2023/24 and 2024/25 - 2025/26 figures to be added when finalised)
• key housing-led regeneration progressed at:
  • City Fields
  • Castleford
  • Pontefract
  • Wakefield city centre
  • Wakefield Kirkgate
• new Local Plan adopted to help guide new local housing growth
• internal group established and ongoing work to explore enhanced specialist and supported housing provision
• 139 empty properties brought back in to use
• 2,097 hazards removed through servicing 1,680 reactive private rented sector housing complaints
• 406 private rented properties supported and 514 hazards removed through the Better Homes Agbrigg proactive enforcement project - 450 properties supported and 530 hazards removed in total
• 173 Houses in Multiple Occupation licences issued
• 147 energy efficiency measures installed through Council schemes
• 2,109 households supported through Money Smart, increasing incomes by £90,616 and tackling £3.9m of debt
• 223 households supported with £404,265 in Energy Debt Fund grants.
• 1,106 households supported with Disabled Facility Grant home adaptations
• 1,174 Healthy Housing Referral Pathway referrals
• 250 new Private Rented Sector Access scheme tenancies created for residents as risk of homelessness
• heat network studies completed for Wakefield city centre and Knottingley, plus funding secured for further investigation work
• new Homeless and Rough Sleeper Strategy launched
• actions delivered to reduce the Council’s reliance and use of temporary accommodation

The Wakefield Housing Plan 2023-26 is available here.

A summary of the Wakefield Housing Plan 2023-26 is available here.

For more information contact Strategic Housing at housingviews@wakefield.gov.uk.