Affordable housing in the South Hams was given an extra boost yesterday when Devon County Council gave all-party support to continue using the money raised from council tax on second homes for housing related projects.

Since 2004, the council has pumped in £8.85 million to fund affordable and supported housing for local people across the county.

At the Executive meeting this week, members agreed to continue to support projects which were previously agreed with the district councils in 2004/2005, by carrying forward funding.

County councillors will also be meeting with district councillors across Devon to agree proposals for the use of additional income allocated for 2005-2006.

Cllr Brian Greenslade, Leader of Devon County Council and Chairman of the Joint Affordable Housing Round Table For Devon explains: "The impact of this money is significant and yesterday's report will be a boost to those people on housing waiting lists across the county."

"This ground-breaking partnership with the county's district councils is the first of its kind. We are the only local authority to ring-fence the money raised from council tax on second homes and will go some way to help the enormous housing problems faced by the people of Devon."

The county council has set aside £8.85 million to fund affordable and supported housing from the two financial years 2004/2005 and 2005/2006. To date, just over £1 million of the funds directly available to Devon's district councils has been drawn on to fund housing projects and many other schemes are in the pipeline.

Projects underway including housing schemes at East Allington, Kingsbridge and Brixton, a Landlord incentive Scheme in Exeter which has helped prevent 36 cases of homelessness, and purchasing two homes in Exmouth.

Works have started at the Depot Site in Kingsbridge for 12 units for rent and 6 shared ownership and 2 open-market sale with a covenant to be sold to local people as their only home.

At Laburnum Way, East Allington, work is underway to provide 12 shared ownership and 12 for rent while in Brixton work was completed in March 2005 to provide 4 shared ownership flats in the Red Lion Hill/Bellows Park area.

At Ropewalk, Kingsbridge work has been completed to provide 10 units of affordable housing for rent.

Planning applications are expected soon for 31 units of affordable housing at Bonfire Hill, Salcombe, and for 12 shared ownership units and 8 homes for rent in Chillington.

Supported Housing Grants: grants totalling £10,000 have already been earmarked, with further bids in the pipeline totalling £30,000;

Submission of a planning application is expected for approximately 24 units- a mixture of rent and shared ownership at Old Mill Creek, Dartmouth.

The total cost of these projects is £2.6 million, towards which the County Council has allocated £1.765 million.

Using powers granted by the Government, all Devon's district councils have cut the council tax discount on second homes from 50% to 10%.

The county council has in turn reinvested all its additional income raised from second homes to fund affordable and supported housing, in many cases back into the districts where the money was raised and supporting schemes agreed with those districts.

The County Council faces substantial pressure to meet rising demands for its core services such as education, social services, road and transport, combined with the need to deliver efficiency savings year on year and keep council tax rises the lowest level possible.

Ongoing research commissioned by the County Council since 1998 to track social trends in Devon demonstrates that access to affordable housing is consistently one of the top quality of life priorities for people in the county.

Average house prices in Devon have more than doubled in the last five years and are now nearly ten times average annual earnings which are the third lowest in Britain. Meanwhile, the demand for housing is driven by a population which is rising by 4,700 a year, almost twice the national average. Research shows that a lack of decent, affordable housing is a common underlying cause for many other social problems faced by people and communities.

The County Council's ability to continue to make investments of this scale in housing will be determined by future funding settlements from the government for its core services.