Rural Affordable Housing
Rural communities are grappling with a severe affordable housing crisis, marked by high house prices, elevated living costs, and lower incomes, threatening their sustainability and vitality.
01 Sep 2025
RSN Joins Call To End Permitted Development Rules Costing 28,000 Affordable Homes
Campaigners from local government, housing providers, and homelessness charities have signed an open letter calling on Government to scrap permitted development rights (PDR) that have cost thousands of affordable homes....
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26 Aug 2025
Council Housing Blueprint Could Offer Rural Lifeline
A new report by Policy Exchange has called on the Government to commit to building 100,000 high-quality council homes annually—and its recommendations could have significant implications for rural areas. The...
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18 Aug 2025
Rural Housing Enablers Driving Change
A new evaluation of the Defra-funded Rural Housing Enabler (RHE) Programme has confirmed the critical role RHEs play in helping rural communities address the shortage of affordable homes. Commissioned by...
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18 Aug 2025
Data that Makes a Difference
Wednesday 17 September 2025 | 13:30 – 15:30 Part of the National Rural Conference 2025 Bookings now open for RSN members: View the full programme Behind every statistic is a...
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11 Aug 2025
£6 million boost for affordable housing in Northumberland
Northumberland County Council has secured over £6 million from the government’s Brownfield Housing Fund to deliver new affordable homes on redundant and underused sites. The funding — totalling £6.075 million...
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04 Aug 2025
Community Power at the Heart of New Rural Development
A trailblazing community business in West Sussex is demonstrating how local enterprise can help shape inclusive, resilient places — right from the start of a new development. The Woodgate Community...
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04 Aug 2025
What is a Rural Housing Enabler?
The term Rural Housing Enabler (RHE) comes up frequently in discussions about tackling the rural housing crisis—but what do they actually do? Rural Housing Enablers are independent facilitators who work...
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28 Jul 2025
Why Rural Housing Matters and Why You Should Join the Conversation
Rural Affordable Housing & Planning Tuesday 16 September 2025 | 10:00 – 12:00 Part of the National Rural Conference 2025 Bookings now open for RSN members: View the full programme...
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24 Jul 2025
Small developments making a huge difference
As one of England’s largest specialist rural housing associations, Hastoe knows only too well the huge and beneficial impact that building just a small number of affordable homes can have...
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24 Jul 2025
Introducing Sophie Norton, RISE’s subject matter expert in retrofit for heritage and historic homes
Sophie Norton is a Sustainability Consultant at Turner & Townsend, and the Retrofit Information, Support and Expertise (RISE) subject matter expert for historic and heritage properties. Before joining Turner &...
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