Concern is often expressed by long-term residents about the lack of affordable family housing. Private landlords have acquired much of the local housing stock, including many former council properties and converted them into highly profitable short term accommodation for an increasingly transient population. This seen by many as a threat to local communities, where the lack of families with children undermines local schools, and initiates the spiral of decline seen in parts of the adjacent Headingley Ward. House prices are largely determined by market forces, and local political intervention has only peripheral effects. There is an ongoing local debate as to what, if anything, can or should be done about this situation.
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