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Homes people can afford

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We all have the right to a home we can afford to live in, wherever we are.

We want everyone in the countryside to have a fair chance in life, whatever their circumstances. To make this a reality, we need to ensure there are enough low cost homes to rent or buy in our villages and market towns. We’re working with local partners and urging the government to make sure communities get the homes they need to thrive.

Affordable homes

CPRE Norfolk suggests a common-sense approach to making sure that everyone can afford to live in a home they deserve.

Put simply we suggest that ‘affordable’ should mean that the cost of the property, whether rented or purchased, would enable the homeowner or tenant to be able to afford the property (usually rent or mortgage) including running costs and still live within their means with the opportunity to make some savings.

We favour the provision of social housing through schemes which involve communities working with housing associations to ensure that the identified affordable housing need in a particular area is met. Such schemes might involve the use of Exception Sites in villages which could be developed to provide the right number of affordable houses for that community.

These “stand alone” schemes are not dependant on the supply of a certain amount of market housing by a developer. Linking social housing provision to the market rarely delivers the number of affordable homes initially promised. Building firms, big and small, are experts at exploiting viability rules to achieve a reduction in the percentage of new houses that are required to be affordable – 33% often ends up as 10% or less.

CPRE has partnered with other major charities to tell the government directly: build new homes for social rent.

Read our housing position statement