Additional affordable housing

Overview

Additional affordable housing is the sum of new social rent, affordable rent, intermediate rent, shared ownership and affordable home ownership. The figures include new build and acquisitions/rehabilitated dwellings. The data includes homes where the cost is met by a private developer (e.g. Section 106 agreements).  The figures do not take into account losses through demolitions or sales. Affordable homes are additional housing units or bed spaces provided to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the market. Annex 2 of the National Planning Policy Framework contains a detailed definition of affordable housing.

According to the Autumn Budget 2017 policy papers, average house prices are now almost eight times the average worker’s salary in England. The cost of housing near the most productive centres of employment has become a barrier to productivity growth. High house prices can prevent people from living near the best job opportunities for them, limiting the productivity of companies that might have employed them. One sustainable way of making housing more affordable in the long term is to build more homes in the right places.

The Homes and Communities Agency (to be renamed Homes England) is responsible for delivery of the government's Shared Ownership and Affordable Homes Programmes. It has a budget of £9.1 billion to 2020-21 which is expected to provide at least 25,000 new affordable homes across England.

In addition, the Government has invited councils in 'high-demand' areas to apply for a lift in their Housing Revenue Account borrowing caps, to allow them to borrow more to build houses, in the autumn 2017 budget.

Analysis

Additional affordable house building reached a new high in 2019/20, exceeding the 1992/3 total by just three dwellings. There were 1,435 additional affordable homes delivered in the Lancashire-12 area in 2019/20, 443 more than in 2018/19. West Lancashire (227) delivered the most. Affordable dwelling completions in the area have averaged 773 per year since 1991/92. There were an additional 63 delivered in Blackpool and 16 in Blackburn with Darwen, giving a total of 1,514 for the Lancashire-14 area.

Looking at the total additional affordable housing completions by new build and by acquisition/rehabilitation in the Lancashire-14 area, new build (1,334) accounted for 88% of the total in 2019/20. Of the new build, affordable rented dwellings comprised 59% of total.

There were 1,617 affordable dwelling starts on site in the Lancashire-12 area in 2019/20, 427 more than in 2018/19.

Dashboard

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Last updated September 2021