AFFORDABLE homes are unaffordable to half of the city’s residents, a councillor has warned.

Green councillor David Gibson said Brighton and Hove City Council is failing in its duty to house residents with 56 new homes priced at rents beyond the reach of low income families.

The party’s housing spokesman said rents were in excess of the local authority's own definition of affordable rents set as a third of a monthly income and twice the level of rents for existing council homes.

Proposals to change the way the housing projects are funded, to allow a small number of cheaper rents to be created, were voted down with concerns the changes could cause financial difficulties.

The issue was raised during a discussion on two new schemes that will see a combined 56 new flats built in Selsfield Drive, off Lewes Road, and Wellsbourne, in Whitehawk, with a one bed flat costing £153 a week, a two bed flat £192 a week and a three bed flat £230.

Cllr Anne Meadows,chairwoman of the housing committee, said she was critical of the Green councillor’s proposals to fund cheaper rents through extending the length of time the council would get a return by up to 20 years. She warned it would delay the schemes.

She said: “We will be affecting future councils’ ability to build more affordable housing.

“It would simply be moving the debt burden further down the line.”

Concerns were also raised about the cost of building new homes with the 56 homes projects valued at £14.2 million.

Conservative councillor Mary Mears said: “We need to be careful about Rolls Royce standards when we are supposed to be delivering affordable homes.

“There’s no point in creating fantastic standards if nobody can afford to rent them.”

But Labour councillor Tracey Hill said higher standards of build would reduce maintenance costs in the future.

Acting executive director environment, development and housing Nick Hibberd added the Selsfield and Wellsbourne designs were likely to be the last of their kind with the authority exploring cheaper modular built homes to reduce costs.

Speaking after the meeting, cllr Gibson said: "Brighton and Hove is in the grips of a severe housing crisis with rents and the council can make a difference by building new homes which are more affordable.

“At present, even the cheapest one-bedroom housing being built by the council requires an income of £29,000 per year to be truly affordable, which is out of reach of over 50 per cent of city residents.”