‘Shady’ developers blamed for affordable housing shortage

The Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) has blamed developers playing the planning system as many local authorities continue to fall ‘woefully short’ of affordable home targets.

Research published by the group claims the proportion of affordable homes being provided by local authorities covering rural areas has halved in the last five years, from 35% in 2011/12 to 16% in 2015/16.

The CPRE also claims just five of the 15 most unaffordable districts outside London have met their most recent targets for affordable homes.

It cites the example of Epping Forest, which has an affordable housing target of 40%, but in the past five years, just 14% of new homes built in the borough have been classed as affordable.

‘As just 8% of rural housing is affordable, much of the countryside is already out of reach to those on average incomes,’ said CPRE planning campaign manager, Paul Miner. ‘If we don’t change things this will just get worse.’

The CPRE also warns of a growing problem with developers backing out of agreements to build affordable homes, by claiming viability assessments show it is no longer possible to build a previously-agreed number.

It also points to recent research by the Town and Country Planning Association (TCPA), which shows local authorities are increasingly concerned about the impact of viability assessments on affordable housing.

According to the TCPA research, published last month, more than 60% of councils surveyed agreed that the viability test set out in the National Planning Policy Framework has hindered their ability secure sufficient social and affordable housing.

‘Many councils are falling woefully short of their targets to provide affordable homes,’ added Mr Miner. ‘Yet you also have to look at those developers who continually use shady tactics to renege on promises to build affordable homes and new community infrastructure.

‘These are often the promises that win them permission in the first place. Developers have councils in a bind. It’s either fewer affordable homes or missed housing targets. And either way, it’s young people and local people in need who lose out.’

Mr Miner added the new government should reduce the power of these viability studies to stop developers ‘gaming the system’ and instead give councils ‘the hard cash to start building homes again’.

Jack Airey, a senior research at the think tank Localis, who is currently working on a new research paper on housing, told New Start Magazine, rural authorities ‘struggle with being challenged on viability assessments’.

‘Small district councils may struggle especially with the risk of fighting them given their size,’ added Airey. ‘But they have other challenges in terms of sub-market rented housing provision.’

Mr Airey added more should be done to encourage transparency in the viability assessment process.

‘It is essential that government does not undermine its own plan making process by allowing developers to side-step these thresholds.

‘For instance, a duty could be placed on local authorities to make developer’s viability assessments public. For their part, local authorities should remove ambiguity by specifying in local plans the limited exceptions in which planning obligations can be negotiated away.’

He added that the government could also tighten legislation around rural exception sites and make them exempt from Right to Buy.

‘There also needs to be a general reaffirmation that these are sites for genuinely affordable housing. Starter homes were going to be permitted on rural exception sites, despite not being “affordable” to many, if any people at all, in local rural areas for which affordable housing is meant.’

In March, the Local Government Association (LGA) called on the government to allow councils to borrow more money to build more affordable homes.

The LGA warned then that a chronic shortage of affordable housing was forcing councils to spend more than £2m a day on temporary accommodation for homeless families.

‘Councils would much rather invest this scarce resource in building new affordable homes and preventing homelessness happening in the first place,’ said LGA chairman, Lord Porter, speaking in March.

‘A renaissance in house building by councils and a plan to reduce the squeeze on household incomes are both needed if we are to stand any chance of solving our housing crisis, reducing homelessness and the use of temporary accommodation, and sustainably reducing the housing benefit bill.’