A KEIGHLEY social action group has been chosen to help pioneer a community initiative aimed at providing desperately-needed housing.

Highfield Food Co-op is one of just 22 organisations across the country selected to take part in the scheme.

Locality, a national network of community-led organisations, is funding a feasibility study and will provide guidance and support.

The aim is for groups to work with their communities to help tackle shortages in affordable social housing.

A spokesman for the Highfield Food Co-op, said: "To be the only group locally and one of just a few in the country chosen to be part of this groundbreaking scheme is a great honour. We are ambassadors.

"We are in the very early stages, but we are excited about the project and what could be achieved.

"Highfield is in one of the most deprived wards nationally and has severe overcrowding issues.

"There is a real need for more housing, but it's not just about providing homes.

"We will be looking to try to bring people together and find different ways of addressing the situation, such as how to access information.

"The feasibility study will explore, amongst other things, how to maximise community involvement.

"We are far from building houses at the moment, but we can now start exploring the idea."

An initial £2,500 is being provided to kickstart the programme in Highfield.

Locality chief executive Tony Armstrong said: "It's so exciting to be giving the Highfield group the chance to get started with its own community-led development.

"The lack of affordable housing means that many people don't have a decent roof over their heads and we hope that this new programme will go some way to addressing the shortage.

"Communities know what kind of housing is needed in their areas and can be best placed to provide quality, affordable homes.

"All that the communities need is a little assistance to get started and this programme will help them achieve their vision and hopefully inspire other groups to take up the challenge too."

Locality has received grant aid for the venture from the Nationwide Foundation.

Its programme manager, Gary Hartin, said: "We are firm believers that community-led housing offers a meaningful way to create more genuinely affordable homes.

"Our ambition is to see it more widely used and acknowledged as a valuable tool to help tackle the desperate shortage of affordable and decent homes."

He added that community-led projects currently made-up just one per cent of the housing market, but that they were attracting increasing interest.