- Affordable housing delivery more exposed than ever to housing market cycles
- Planning process blocks new affordable homes in over 2,000 villages
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Posted 27.11.18
Savills: Article link
Low levels of grant, by historical standards, have led housing associations to develop a cross-subsidy model, building more homes for market sales to fund new affordable homes. This leaves the sector more exposed than ever to a cyclical housing market slowdown.
At the same time, Section 106, a vital source of affordable housing delivery, has limited capacity for expansion, Savills says in a new report - Affordable Housing: Building through Cycles.
A market downturn could cut Section 106 affordable housing delivery in half, the firm says.
Savills estimates that a third of the Government's 300,000 new homes a year target - some 100,000 homes - need to be priced at sub-market levels, whether for rent or for sale. Despite a year on year increase, total delivery was just 43,000 in 2017/18.
The issues are particularly acute in London and the South. An estimated 42,500 new households a year need homes priced below market rates, but an average of only 5,600 were built on average over the last three years.
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Posted 19.11.18
CLA: Article link
More than 2,000 villages are missing out on new affordable homes because they are classified as unsuitable for growth by the local planning process.
According to new research by the CLA of 70 Local Plans from the most rural local authorities, 2,154 villages across England are judged to be unsustainable.
This means housing allocation, including the delivery of affordable homes in these communities is either highly restricted or not permitted, further exacerbating the rural housing crisis.
The CLA has also analysed how 50 local authorities use a settlement hierarchy when deciding where new development will be allocated in a Local Plan.
The hierarchy ranks villages by scoring them against a range of services and amenities but the CLA's research revealed that just 18% of local authorities factor in broadband when assessing the sustainability of rural settlements.
Sustainable Villages - making rural communities fit for the future argues that planning criteria must be updated to reflect how people access services in the 21st century and encourages local authorities to be more proactive in identifying the housing needs of small rural communities.
