The Affordable Housing Commission has issued a report “Making Housing Affordable After Covid-19”

Whilst not specifically about rural housing the report’s analysis and recommended 12 point housing recovery plan are as relevant – indeed in many ways more relevant – to rural areas as they are in urban settings. The RSN agrees with the Commission that “as the level of need has risen, the supply of affordable housing has fallen”

The RSN has long argued that the current affordable rent policies are not affordable to those earning their living in the rural economy. The Commission comments that “this rent model is mostly unaffordable for lower paid workers not receiving housing benefit”

The RSN’s view that affordable (rural) housing is about much more than meeting housing need is echoed by the Commission in its view of what it terms ‘extra spill-over benefits’ “to the economy in terms of growth and productivity; in tackling poverty and improving people’s well-being and life chances; and helping reduce carbon emissions”

? Click here to read the Commission’s full report