A KEIGHLEY housing boss has criticised the Government for failing to give a firm commitment over building more affordable homes.

Lee Bloomfield – chief executive of Manningham Housing Association, which manages properties in Keighley and Bradford – said the King's Speech highlighted that taking homeless people off the streets wasn't a priority for ministers.

And he added that the tone for the speech had been set when Home Secretary Suella Braverman described homelessness as a "lifestyle choice" and "stated her desire to ban homeless people from sheltering in tents".

Mr Bloomfield says: "Community-based organisations such as ours simply wish to do the right thing for our tenants, and indeed prospective tenants, by expanding the number of properties we have available. But we cannot do this alone – the Government must take the lead.

"The present administration stopped any pretence that building new homes was a priority when it ditched its target of constructing 300,000 homes every year, essentially casting housing associations and deprived neighbourhoods in places like Keighley and Bradford adrift.

"The absence of any renewed commitment in the King’s Speech was desperately disappointing but, in the wake of Suella Braverman’s crass and heartless comments, not in the least surprising."