Press Release
More families priced out of rural areas, says JRF report
Wednesday 26 April 2006
Government needs to address the acute housing problems facing growing numbers of families priced out of booming rural property markets, according to a new report published today (Wednesday 26 April) by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The report shows how young people needing homes in these rural areas are in a worse position than their counterparts elsewhere and that urgent action is needed:
- housebuilding levels are falling in rural areas – down 4% from 2003-5, compared with a 19% increase in urban areas;
- the proportion of new housebuilding which comprises affordable – usually subsidised – housing has been just 6%, compared with 16% in the more urban districts;
- and Right-to-Buy sales of council housing have reduced numbers of rented homes by some 36% since 1980 in local authority areas that include rural communities. The position is so acute that in some communities the entire council stock has now been sold.
These factors are compounded by the pressures on existing rural housing – from retired people, from those commuting to jobs elsewhere, from second home purchasers, etc.
The report calls for:
- better use of the existing housing stock – empty properties, unused farm buildings, under-occupied social housing, etc.
- a doubling in the current level of social housebuilding funded by the Housing Corporation in rural areas, adding 1,750 homes annually in smaller rural settlements and 3,000 homes in larger rural settlements;
- providing more homes for individuals and families in the "intermediate housing market" who cannot qualify for social housing yet cannot afford even the cheapest homes for sale;
- recycling the proceeds from council housing sales and the extra Council Tax resulting from reductions in the discounts on second homes;
- and, very importantly, employing an extra 100 Rural Housing Enablers (RHEs) to work with parish councils, land owners, planning authorities, housing associations and others, to determine housing need, and find suitable sites.
"In our visits to various rural locations, we have seen and heard the impact of losses of council housing and the failure to replace them: the next generation of local people with a claim to live in those communities face seemingly insuperable housing problems" said Lord Best of the JRF. "Our report highlights some possible ways forward."
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