We need joined-up thinking to solve housing problems in Leeds - YEP letters

I despair at the apparent lack of joined up thinking with regard to the provision of housing in the local area.

The YEP (August 10) announced that £67m will be provided to the West Yorkshire Combined Authority to ”help local councils prepare brownfield sites - many which are costly to develop - for housing developers”.

We must presume that developers will not “prepare” the brownfield sites themselves as this would eat into their profits. There is no suggestion of there being a requirement to build affordable, let alone social housing.

Over some months the YEP has reported on the plight of 70 families in Oulton who have been campaigning under the name of Save Our Homes LS26 to try to prevent their truly affordable homes from being demolished by their landlord who wishes to make more profit by replacing the homes with distinctly unaffordable ones and leaving the residents facing homelessness.

It appears that there is money for housing development when it will mean a great gain for private companies - rather like there being money for private companies to make masks for the NHS – even if they are unsuitable or to run a test and trace operation even if it fails to work adequately.

So much public money given to so few for so little.