Across the UK, there’s a lack of affordable housing to rent or buy in many villages. Some communities have none at all.
A parish needs to have the right balance of homes to sustain a vibrant community. All new housing should aim to meet local needs and be planned carefully to have a positive impact on the area.
Identifying the full range of local housing needs informs future decisions and proactive action.
What is a housing needs survey?
A housing needs survey helps a parish to understand if it needs more affordable homes for local people.
We send a hard-copy survey plus a link to an online version, so that people have the choice of how to complete it.
The survey is the first step to identifying if, and what types of homes, are needed.
A survey is the first step towards providing affordable rural homes.
- We use the results to make sure that any new homes built reflect what's needed for people who have a connection to the area.
- The needs identified may be for affordable homes for rent or shared ownership, private rented or market sale.
- The mix of homes can meet different needs (for example, suitable for people who want to downsize, or smaller properties to help people into home ownership).
- Villages should assess housing needs every three to five years to understand local needs.
Once the survey is complete, we analyse the results and produce an anonymised report to share with all involved parties.
- If we find enough people with a housing need and we can start to look for a site, we'll work in partnership with the parish council and local community to progress a suitable development.
- The key people to benefit from any new homes will be those who are already part of the fabric of the community: you, your children, grandchildren, parents and so on.
The survey reports are anonymised, so nobody else will see personal information, or know what others have said.
We keep everything confidential in line with the Data Protection Act 2018 and General Data Protection Regulation. We do not share personal data with anyone else.
Homes for local people
There's sometimes cynicism over whether homes are genuinely for local people.
Homes built on rural exception sites are only available to people who already have a strong local connection to a village (for example, they or close family live in the village, or they work there.)
These homes are also held for local need in perpetuity. This means that when a property becomes vacant, it can only be re-let to someone else with a local connection.
The sites we help others to develop are known as rural exception sites (RES).
This means we look for very small pieces of land, which can accommodate a limited number of homes. Typically schemes create 4-6 new homes, but sometimes up to 12.
Councils have very clear policies about what can and can’t be built on rural exception sites.
You can read more about rural exception sites in the Parish Councillors Guide to Rural Affordable Housing.
Rural exception sites are small scale, and usually developed solely for affordable housing.
Rural exception sites are not like large-scale, commercial developments, where there's a required quota of affordable homes. They are quite the opposite.
But they can also include a mix of tenures if some market-sale housing is needed to support the delivery of affordable homes. In these cases, the numbers of market-sale properties should be the minimum required to secure the affordable housing.
Open market sale
Open market homes can ONLY be built on a rural exception site if the survey identifies a local need for them and the local planning policies allow for them to be provided to help support the delivery of the affordable housing. So, the priority is always the affordable homes.
In some areas, any open market homes can only be sold to people with a local connection for the first 12 weeks on sale.
Affordable housing includes homes for sale or rent and is for people whose needs are not met by the private housing market.
Affordable housing is a key element of the government’s plan to end the housing crisis, tackle homelessness and help people into home ownership.
The housing needs survey will identify the size and types of homes needed, often including a mix of houses, bungalows and maisonettes. Affordable home tenures include:
- Homes for affordable rent or social rent
- Homes for shared ownership.