RURAL HOMES SHORTAGE Unite housing workers highlight rural living crisis

 

RURAL HOMES SHORTAGE

Unite housing workers highlight rural living crisis

RURAL HOMES SHORTAGE

Unite housing workers highlight rural living crisis

An article published in UniteLANDWORKER Winter 2024

Whilst welcoming a new report highlighting the critical factors affecting rural affordable housing supply, Nick Auvache, Unite Housing Workers Branch  organiser, believes the proposed solutions fall well short of what’s required to correct a massive housing shortage.

Only 9% of housing stock in rural communities of less than 3,000 residents consists of affordable homes, compared to 17% in urban areas.

Trent and Dove and Rural Housing Solutions “There’s a Will – Here’s the Way’ report draws on extensive interviews with 11 Registered Housing Providers, including strategic and non-Strategic Partners.

The findings reveal that a willingness to develop rural housing is blocked by financial viability, extra rural-specific costs like finding builders locally and planning delays, often caused by a lack of planning teams.

The solutions proposed are better grants, support for local authorities and rural housing enablers for developments of fewer than 15 homes, a dedicated rural champion in Homes England to ensure 10% of affordable homes are built in parishes of less than 3,000 people plus simplified and consistent planning policies.

“Building any housing is no small thing, especially rurally,” states Auvanche.

“The semi-public sector should be praised for their efforts. But such is the widespread national shortage of affordable houses everywhere that we need public led solutions that will require extensive new funds.”

He highlighted that between 2019 and 2022 an additional 46,318 persons registered for social housing in rural areas whilst only 5,953 social rented homes were built.  

As such, small developments are not going to solve the problems which, believes Auvache, are wrongly being largely attributed in the media in rural locations to the rise Airbnb, which he views instead as a symptom of the crisis.

Meanwhile, private house builders want the government to raise incentives, which means they’d be guaranteed profits, to build more rural private homes that won’t be affordable for local people who will be forced to leave.

Auvanche wants “those proposed government funds to instead help build council houses alongside the necessary infrastructure such as roads, schools and community facilities to allow residents, especially the elderly, children and disabled, to fully participate in society or otherwise these rural idylls become hellholes.

“Also being a council tenant enables residents to have some democratic control over their living accommodation.”

According to Defend Council Housing a new programme of council house building across rural communities should also include the repairing and refurbishing of existing council housing, the requisition of empty homes and the abolition of the right to buy. It would all be part of planning for the people and the planet, not solely for developers’ profits. Public funds would also provide a much-needed boost for jobs and local economies.