A BRADFORD social housing group has launched a new subsidiary to increase the supply of accommodation in West and North Yorkshire and boost its access to funding.

Horton Housing Group has officially registered new company Chartford Housing Limited with the Homes and Communities Agency.

As a ‘registered provider’ Chartford Housing will be able to access funding that is not available to Horton Housing Association, such as grants from the HCA’s Affordable Homes Programme.

Chartford, which is also a registered charity, will specialise in providing homes to vulnerable people and continue to tackle homelessness and barriers that prevent people from managing their tenancies.

It will concentrate on bringing empty properties in the Bradford district back into use and has already secured £700,000 from the HCA to create 25 self-contained flats in the district and develop a further ten homes in Halifax.

Chartford Housing will also manage a further 200 properties across West and North Yorkshire.

Chartford Housing has been set up as a subsidiary of Horton Housing Group with its own board. Its clients are able to access support from other Horton services, including the training centre which offers a wide range of courses to help people get back into employment.

David Collier,finance director, said: “This is a significant step in the growth of Horton Housing Group and allows us to access funding that has previously been unavailable to us.

“Horton Housing has more than 30 years’ experience working with vulnerable people in Bradford, Calderdale, Kirklees and North Yorkshire and provides a wide range of services which Chartford Housing tenants can access, including training, employability skills and Jobsearch.

“By providing specialist support for vulnerable people, and decent homes in which to live, we are helping people to stay in their homes and maintain tenancies. This in turn helps to reduce the incidents of homelessness in the areas in which we work.”

Meanwhile, a new report today (THUS) shows that more home owners in West Yorkshire are staying put -adding to the shortage of homes for sale and pushing up prices further..

According to the latest Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors UK Residential Market Survey,

Regional house prices rose again last month, maintaining a trend dating back to June 2013, demand from potential buyers continues to "considerably" outpace supply in Yorkshire, with 21 per cent more surveyors seeing a decline in new sales instructions last month - the ninth consecutive monthly drop .

Nearly 60 per cent of regional RICS members saw house prices rise last month and more than a quarter expect prices to continue rising .