A solution to our housing problems: A RURAL COMMUNITY HOUSE BUILDING PROGRAMME

The latest from the Food & Farming Futures looks at a key issue for rural areas: 

Fixing the affordable housing crisis in rural England

Local authorities should enter into two-way negotiations with central government to develop devolution deals for rural areas, including the possibility of bespoke deals on housing and planning in which ambitious commitments are agreed to increase affordable housing supply. The government should task and support Homes England with embarking on a significant Rural House Building Programme including recalculating and reinstating the rural affordable housing target for grant allocation. Land needs to be brought forward where it is needed at a price that means it can be developed for affordable housing. Government should make a renewed commitment to rural communities, more explicitly designing policy to meet their needs

F&FF - Technical and Business Information

This provides a summary of a longer piece - from IPPR, “A new rural settlement: Fixing the affordable housing crisis in rural England” - the full text of which includes this: 

A RURAL COMMUNITY HOUSE BUILDING PROGRAMME 

One of the ways to address the cost of housing is through ensuring adequate access to genuinely affordable homes. Yet, as it currently stands, there is not enough affordable housing stock in rural areas to meet their needs. Only 8 per cent of the housing stock in rural areas is affordable compared to 20 per cent in urban areas, and current delivery is failing to provide enough new homes. Policy support for delivery in rural areas is weak and this undermines the efforts of communities to deliver the homes they need. A renewed effort is needed to support communities to work with housing providers in delivering new homes. Meeting the affordable housing need will require new affordable homes. Delivery these will need grant to support local authorities, housing associations and communities to build homes in their communities. 

We recommend that government should task and support Homes England with embarking on a significant Rural House Building Programme.

A NEW RURALSETTLEMENTFIXING THE AFFORDABLEHOUSING CRISIS INRURAL ENGLAND 
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