The countryside charity CPRE is urging the government to redefine affordable housing to tackle what it calls ‘a deepening housing crisis across rural England’.
The charity claims that rates of rough sleeping in some countryside areas now exceed those in major cities, and says its own research in 2023 found 12 rural local authorities with rates of rough sleeping higher than the national average and seven times higher than London.
CPRE wants the government to redefine affordable housing, set and enforce ambitious targets for affordable and social rented homes, and prioritise brownfield sites. The charity commented:
“While the construction of so-called ‘affordable’ homes has increased 70% since 2012 overall, these figures mask regional disparities and rely on a flawed definition of ‘affordable’ that mean far too many of these homes remain out of reach of ordinary people. The North West and South West have seen construction of ‘affordable’ homes decrease by 6.2% and 8.9% respectively.
“Meanwhile, social housing construction has collapsed by 32% since 2012, with just 2,831 social homes built in rural England last year. The social housing waiting list in rural areas stands at around 300,000 people, a backlog that would take 82 years to clear at current building rates. In the South West, nearly 65,000 people are still waiting for social housing despite a 33% decrease in waiting lists since 2012.”
CPRE believes the Planning and Infrastructure Bill has the potential to ‘transform’ affordable housebuilding, and has outlined further measures it believes will address what it calls ‘an extreme disparity’ between rural rents and house prices.
The charity is calling for a statutory definition of affordable housing linked to average local incomes, rather than market rates, with ‘ambitious and legally binding targets for genuinely affordable and social-rented homes in all new developments’, and developers held to account if they are not delivered.
CPRE head of policy and planning Paul Miner said:
“The rural housing crisis is tearing communities apart, with homelessness soaring and rough sleeping now worse in some countryside areas than it is in our biggest cities.
“The Planning and Infrastructure Bill could transform how we deliver genuinely affordable homes by tackling the stranglehold of big developers, redefining ‘affordable’ based on local incomes, and setting meaningful targets for social housing and genuinely affordable homes. With 300,000 rural people on waiting lists and a backlog that would take 82 years to clear, it’s time for the government to act.”
