Rural Housing
Community Action Suffolk works with Parish Councils, local residents, housing associations, local councils and landowners to facilitate ways of meeting housing needs.
The Rural Housing Project aims to increase the provision of housing for local needs in villages throughout the County. To promote balanced communities where people aren’t excluded and don’t have to move away because there isn’t any suitable or affordable accommodation.
The problem in rural areas
In recent years concern has grown over the future of village life, where communities have been threatened because, among other things, local families have been unable to compete for increasingly scarce and expensive housing. Although the lack of affordable housing in rural communities has been a serious problem for many decades it has recently reached crisis point in many parts of the country where house prices have outstripped average incomes by very large margins. High house prices, the loss of council houses through Right to Buy and restrictive planning policies has all played their part in worsening the situation.
It is also recognised that those who own their own properties are finding it hard to remain in the village and find suitable accommodation.
What are Local Housing needs schemes?
Many communities across Suffolk to develop local housing needs schemes. These schemes are developed in partnership with Parish Councils, the District Council and a Housing Association. These small housing developments are kept for local people in perpetuity and homes of all tenure types (majority affordable rent) built on them can never be sold on the open market.
A legal document is drawn up under section 106 Town and Country Planning Act 1990 between the District Council and the Housing Association to ensure the houses are kept in perpetuity for local people and will state clearly who is eligible for housing in the new development. These restrictions do not affect any existing Council or housing association property in the parish, or any open market homes built on exception site schemes.
Rural Exception sites and local housing needs surveys
Local authorities may adopt policies which enable them to grant planning permission for sites adjoining the village development envelope which would not normally be released for housing, in order to provide housing to meet local needs in perpetuity. These sites are known as “Rural Exception “sites and robust data, usually through a Local Housing Needs Survey must be submitted to support an “exception scheme”.
Any rural community, which is considering bringing forward a local housing needs scheme may therefore wish to undertake a local housing needs survey (HNS) to prove that a housing need exists in the village. The HNS captures information on all tenure types (affordable, open market, shared ownership etc.) and can also identify any hidden need within a village, i.e. people wishing to downsize, those that want to return or live in the village.
All households in the village will be given an opportunity to complete a survey form. There will be a section on the form allowing people to indicate if any family members have had to leave the village due to a lack of suitable accommodation and who would like to return if a local affordable housing scheme is developed.
Exception policy land is usually much cheaper than land where open market housing would normally be permitted, enabling the development of housing. Guidance in the Local Authority’s planning policy will provide the criteria for such developments, including that the style and character of such housing should be in keeping with its surroundings and local building types.
Local Connection
Provided the scheme is protected by a Section 106 agreement, lettings will be restricted initially to people with a strong connection to the parish. The Section 106 will also include the names of abutting parishes to be included in the “cascade of eligible parishes” if there is no one left in need in the core parish. Each Local Authority will have it’s own definition of local need and local connection, but typically it would cover the following circumstances:
- Connection to the village by birth
- Current residence within the village for a number of years
- Former residence in the village within a set timescale
- Close family members resident in the village
- Employment in the village
Types of affordable housing
Local Affordable housing schemes can include different types of tenure to include:
Affordable Rent
From April 2011 most new homes for rent will be let as Affordable Rent tenancies. These are where rent charged at up to 80% of local open market rents.
Shared ownership
This form of tenure is a popular alternative to renting for those people who cannot afford to buy outright on the open market but can afford to buy a proportion of the equity of their home. There are several types of shared ownership, and the most common is Restricted Shared Equity where the occupier initially has a minimum mortgage of 25% of the equity of a property and pays a rent to the Housing Association joint owner on the rest of the value of the property. As income allows occupants can “staircase” up and increase their share of the equity up to maximum of about 80%. This restriction on outright ownership ensures that the houses are never completely sold off and will remain available for local people in perpetuity.
Local Open Market Housing
With the introduction of the new National Planning Policy Framework in 2012 (NPPF) and changes in Government funding for affordable housing to Housing Associations, in relation to rural exception sites, planning authorities are encouraged to allow some market housing on Rural Exception sites. This is designed to facilitate the provision of additional affordable housing to meet local needs.
This can be of great assistance to the financial viability of bringing forward a local needs affordable housing scheme and at the same time meet additional forms of local housing need. A good example is highlighted in many parish housing needs surveys. These often show an increasing need for elderly households, currently living in owner occupied family type properties who wish to remain in the parish for support from family and friends and are unable to find suitable smaller open market properties for them to downsize to.
The provision of a limited number of suitable open market homes on a rural exception site will help subsidise affordable housing on that site and meet an identified housing need in the local open market sector.
Community Land Trusts (CLTs)
Community Land Trusts (CLTs) are a form of community-led housing. The CLT acquires land through purchase (by the community) or a gift, and oversees the development of affordable housing to buy or rent. The housing remains affordable in perpetuity – the CLT is a not-for-profit group and acts as a long-term steward of the homes built.
The Labour Government included a statutory definition of CLTs in the Housing and Regeneration Act 2008. CLTs were viewed as a possible model for delivering affordable housing. A Government-led pilot scheme and a consultation led to the conclusion in 2009 that CLTs did have a future role to play, and awarded Carnegie UK £500,000 to develop the sector. This was to involve better training for practitioners, developing turnkey packages and facilitating community groups’ access to finance.
Governments since 2010 have indicated their support for CLTs. The Localism Act 2011, passed by the Coalition Government, introduced the Community Right to Build and Community Right to Bid which were made available to CLTs. These measures allowed communities to bypass normal planning permissions, subject to a local referendum, and gave community groups the first opportunity to buy assets of value to them.
CLTs have also been given access to various sources of funding. Some of these have been specifically aimed at community-led projects, particularly to support applications under the Community Right to Bid. The £60 million Community Housing Fund was offered in areas with high levels of second home ownership and aimed to develop the local community-led housing sector.
Both the Coalition and Conservative Governments encouraged CLTs to apply for assistance under various Affordable Homes Programmes. CLTs can also apply for a loan via the Home Building Fund launched in October 2016, which is available to any private sector housing provider.
Regional Community Led Housing Hub
Regional Community Led Housing Hub https://easterncommunityhomes.com/
Contact Information
If you are interested in undertaking a CLT project, please contact Sue Downs
Email: [email protected]
Tel: 01473 345379
