How landowners can ease the rural housing crisis

A new report from CPRE (Campaign to Protect Rural England) suggests ways to help landowners provide affordable housing for local communities.

A new paper released by the Campaign to Protect Rural England (CPRE) argues that rural landowners can play a crucial role in solving England’s rural housing crisis.

Under current policy, rural landowners can provide sites at below-market prices to build housing for local people in need – but recent legal and financial changes have made this increasingly difficult. On Solid Ground shows how we could make it easier for landowners to offer their land for affordable housing, including through changes to tax legislation and to councils’ waiting list systems for social housing.

Rural communities are particularly hard-hit by dwindling affordable housing stock: 8% of rural housing is classed as affordable compared to 20% in urban areas. This has seen the average age in rural communities rise as young people are priced out, and services like post offices, pubs and shops have closed as workers and potential customers are forced to move elsewhere.

Trinley Walker, policy and research adviser at the Campaign to Protect Rural England, said, “Landowners understand the pressures facing rural communities, and they are uniquely placed to help keep these towns and villages thriving. There is a clear appetite among landowners to help create affordable housing for local people, but the current system discourages them from doing so.

“Government must do more to address the lack of affordable housing in rural areas. Removing some of the obstacles preventing landowners from providing land is a straightforward way to get more houses built for those who need them.”

Members of the CLA provide nearly 40% of all private rented housing in rural areas. CLA President Ross Murray said, “Landowners have strong multi-generational ties to their communities and are often local employers so are well-placed to help increase the supply of affordable homes.

“We want life in our villages – to support young families, local workers and those in the community who are ready to downsize. At a time when housing costs are spiralling, providing more affordable housing is an excellent way to sustain rural communities for future generations and ensure people have the opportunity to live and work in the countryside.”

To support rural landowners in providing land for affordable housing, CPRE’s new paper proposes:

• Giving landowners power to ensure that their land will benefit people with local connections. Landowners would be more inclined to provide land for affordable housing if they had more confidence that this would directly benefit those in their local community The paper suggests changes to letting systems, many of which currently don’t allow for prioritising local tenants.

• Fewer tax barriers that discourage landowners from providing affordable housing. The current tax system is unfavourable to landowners who let their land to housing associations or directly to tenants. The paper suggests measures that would see landowners paying reduced tax on profits from providing affordable housing, and being able to offset losses from these investments against other taxable income.