Affordable Rural Housing for Local People in Villages

Leicestershire & Rutland Rural Housing Enabler

Our District Council has strategic housing responsibility and duty to ensure that people who live in the area have access to suitable housing. This includes affordable housing in villages.

House prices and rents are often too high for people on moderate incomes to allow them to stay within their communities. A shortage of affordable homes can mean that the people who have lived in a rural community all their life cannot afford a suitable home within that community. They are forced to move away and rent or buy a home away from family, friends. In many cases just a handful of well designed homes, kept affordable for local people, will make all the difference to the sustainability of the community. Otherwise more and more villages will turn into commuter dormitories, at the cost of local jobs, declining local services, and the loss of genuine community life.

There are policies in place to help address the problem of a lack of affordable housing in rural areas. One way is to develop affordable housing for the local people in partnership with their community. This would usually include the Parish Council, a Housing Association and landowners.

Our Council supports the work of the Leicestershire and Rutland Rural Housing Enabler (RHE). His work is important in ensuring there are suitable homes in the rural areas of NWL for local people.

The main role of the RHE is to facilitate the delivery of affordable rural housing. This includes assisting with village housing needs surveys, identifying suitable sites and aiding discussions between partners. The Council supports his work and co-ordinates local housing needs surveys in Rural Parishes. This enables us to establish the unique needs of each rural community and explore ways of solving their housing problem.

If you are interested in providing affordable housing within your rural community then please contact the Council in the first instance, at the email address above. The Affordable Housing Enabler would be willing to come and speak to your Parish Council regarding affordable housing.

The Council will then decide if a local parish-based survey should be carried out, it would need to fit within our strategic priorities.

If you would like any more information on rural housing within Leicestershire please contact the Leicestershire and Rutland Rural Housing Enabler.

Richard Windley
Leicestershire & Rutland Rural Housing Enabler
Tel: 01530 276 547
Email: richard.windley@midlandsrh.org.uk