Affordable Housing

Affordable housing is housing available for people who cannot afford to rent or buy houses generally available on the open market. It is low cost market and subsidised housing irrespective of tenure, ownership or financial arrangements. This includes social housing charging typically low, below market rents but can also include other forms of below market housing such as intermediate rent (which is between social and market rents), and  low cost home ownership such as shared ownership.

In the last 20 years there has been a severe decline in the number of affordable homes. This is mainly due to the fact that house prices have dramatically increased in relation to peoples incomes. Homes for sale are now beyond the reach of middle income families in many parts of the United Kingdom, including particular hotspots such as Shrewsbury and the surrounding areas.

To put this into local context, the average house price in the Shrewsbury and Atcham area (June 2006) was £188,192.00, this is nearly NINE times greater than the mean annual income of £21,800.00. Indeed to purchase a 2 bedroom dwelling at normal borrowing rates would require an annual income in excess of  £40,000.00 This ever increasing demand for affordable housing currently exceeds the annual delivery by more than 263 homes.

This has far reaching social implications - the lack of affordable housing leads to an increase in the number of families who are homeless, homeless in bed and breakfast accommodation, or homeless staying with friends or relatives.

High house prices even impact on the ability of local businesses and services to recruit staff, as companies cannot afford to pay the levels of salaries required to enable the person to settle in the locality. 

Following the transfer of the Council's housing stock in October 2001, the Council committed to provide 500 affordable rented homes for borough residents by October 2006. In line with this policy some 324 units of affordable housing have been provided since 2001 on sites across the borough, including family  housing, supported housing and older person dwellings. The size and tenure of these properties is determined by up to date, robust  housing needs information, which is gathered through periodic housing needs surveys. The 2004 housing needs survey highlights this information at borough ward level, and this in turn informs developers of what the local development site requirements are for a given site. The fundamental conclusion of this survey however, is that there is identifiable demand for all sizes and tenures of property across the borough.

The Council has adopted two approaches, primarily using the planning process where much work and policy development has been achieved, and is indeed still underway to require developers on sites of certain sizes and densities to make a provision for affordable housing in both urban and rural areas. Secondly, through direct financial involvement - the Council has adopted a policy and committed a considerable capital sum, subject to a notional return, to provide affordable housing via  land, property or other development opportunities through new build or conversion. The Council is reviewing all land and other assets in its ownership with a view to developing affordable housing units. This broad innovative approach is not an easy solution and is proving difficult to progress due to difficulty in identifying and acquiring suitable sites or properties in competition with the open market and local sensitivity to proposed developments.

Click on the links to the left of the page to view information about current affordable housing schemes.