1. Outline the scope and key drivers of the current housing affordability crisis in rural England, and assess the effectiveness of planning, now and in the future, in addressing this crisis;
While much of recent discussions of housing affordability in England have been dominated by the rapidly increasing house prices in London, there is an arguably more acute housing affordability crisis in rural England. ‘Rural England’, characterized by Gallent as areas with fewer than 1000 inhabitants per 20 hectares (Gallent et al. 2003), has long had an undersupply of housing, particularly affordable housing, at the same time as a rising demand. This crisis is one in need of urgent repair as it continues to harm the rural communities in which it exists. Rural England faces a myriad of issues, including lack of skilled labour and lack of convenience in accessing necessities such as healthcare and food and retail stores. The rural housing affordability crisis in rural England is interlinked with the other issues it faces. The crisis is a complex and far-reaching issue with many past and present drivers and an irrefutable link to the planning system. This essay will first outline the scope and key drivers of this crisis and will then analyse and gauge the effectiveness of planning in addressing the issue.
Important in discussing the scope of the housing affordability crisis in rural England is taking into consideration housing affordability in England as a whole. A recent survey using ONS data shows that “since 2003 the average house price has gone up by £100,000, whereas the average annual salary has risen by just £6,570.” While this data includes non-rural England including London, “even removing London and the South East the average home h...
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... is vast; on house price to local income basis the affordability crisis affects rural England to a greater extent than urban England. The crisis is driven by a range of factors, including strict land-use policy and conservation groups in rural areas, high mortgage loans for rural housing introduced by lenders in the 1990s and early 2000s driving up house prices, and affluent second-home buyers in rural areas who often support strict land use policy. These factors all either increase demand or help to suppress supply, creating a supply-demand imbalance in rural England, driving up house prices and in this way making the crisis more severe. Recent changes in planning policy have made a start in trying to address the crisis, but more must be done, including trying to grow the rural economy sustainably and easing planning restrictions, for the crisis to be alleviated.
The biggest factor impacting Rural Australia has been the changes to the economic viability of primary production, one of the largest sources of income for Australia (Australian Government, 2008), affected by globalization, deregulation, privatisation and reduction/withdrawal of services, rising production costs, and ever present unpredictable environmental conditions (Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission Secretariat, 2000).
As the lease of my apartment is coming to an end it had me thinking of achieving my own American Dream of home ownership but as I do my research I find the dream is far from coming true. I am sure that the issue of housing prices and rent rates are what most of us Bay Area residents talk about and debate. It is an issue that needs to be addressed by the officials of the area, city mayors, affordable housing committees, social justice activists,lawmakers, and even employers. Skyrocketing prices, low inventory, and investors’ bidding wars are not only pushing the middle and lower classes out of San Francisco and the Bay Area out but will completely eliminate them.
Kennedy A. (2014) Castle Vale Housing Action Trust: Lessons in Regenerating Communities Lecture, University of Birmingham.
As Desmond follows eight families from two communities through their attempt to find housing, he highlights the shocking statistic that “75 percent of those who qualify for housing assistance do not receive anything due to unorganized local zoning regulations, insufficient federal funding for housing assistance, and lack of space dedicated to affordable housing”. In a report from the Public and Affordable Housing Research Corporation (PAHRC), Trends in Housing Assistance and Who It Serves, found that only one in four households that qualify for affordable housing will receive it, further proving Desmond’s point that although there are programs in place, there is still major progress to be made in the application of the law. Desmond goes on to explain that he does believe in a right to profit, but there must be government intervention that balances out profit and accessibility of materials. He highlights that “exploitation within the housing market relies on government support”, making it fairly easy for the government to put an end to the exploitation of poor people, if they wanted
House prices have been affected by the number of people who buy houses to rent out and this has had an impact on younger people wanting to buy homes. Thus, the term ‘generation rent’ has come to the forefront in recent years. In A Century of Home-ownership and Renting (The Open University, 2016) census data presented supports the claim for the use of this term. In the video, they mention levels of home-ownership dropped for the first time since records began. From 69% to 64% in the space of 10 years and the percentage of households privately renting has been on the rise. 11% in 1981 compared to 18% in 2011. In addition, house prices have risen faster than previous years and banks have also restricted lending. These factors have all lead to more people not being able to afford a home of their own, especially at a younger age. So, as house prices rise this benefits the home-owners and allows them to gain more wealth and capital. The distribution of wealth has been affected by changes in these markets. There is evidence to support this claim. Table 3.5 (Investigating the social world 1, chapter 3, p. 96) shows wealth distribution in Great Britain from 2000 and 2005. The table shows results for housing wealth distribution amongst other things. It’s important to look at the look at the lowest and highest percentiles to look at any
Nevertheless, the previous researches were either focused on the role of affordable housing associating with residential stability or educational improvement for children and employment outcomes for the adults (Manturuk, 2012). Others also emphasized that affordable housing could contribute to community-wide economic development, both for troubled and vibrant communities (Lubell et al., 2007). In addition, even the past researches started to examine the impact difference from various categories ownerships versus; however, the subcate...
Affordable housing in the United States describes sheltering units with well-adjusted housing costs for those living on an average, median income. The phrase usually implies to applied rental or purchaser housing within the financial means of lower-income ranges specific to the demographics of any given area. However, affordable housing does not include those living in social housing owned by government and non-profit organizations. More specifically, the targeted range for housing affordability sets below 30 percent of a household's annual income, including all applicable taxes, utility costs and home owners insurance rates. If the mean income per household breaches the 30 percent mark, then the agreed status becomes labeled as "unaffordable" by most recognizable financial institutions.
Rural issues/Problems: The first problem that is seen in the rural population is poverty. . According to U.S. census Bureau app. Three quarter of America is classified as rural residents, in that three quarters 41 % of people in rural area live in poverty. Along with these rural inhabitants ages 20 to 39 reported higher levels of unemployment then those living in metropolitan’s areas during the first half of 2012 (Youth Today). These number show that as time goes on poverty will become more and more prevalent in that population. The main causes for poverty in the rural area is little to no income, high unemployment rates, less job opportunities, and lack of education( Poverty in Rural Areas). Some reason why poverty goes unnoticed in rural communities is it is not...
Housing affordability for first home buyers (FHB) in Australia has been broadly declining since the early 1980s. The latest data point to a fragmented outlook for the residential building industry. Two contrasting sub-groups of homeowners exist in Australia: outright buyers and mortgaged home owners with the FHB dominating the latter. Housing prices have however, remained tight, suggesting a lack of pricing freedom by suppliers with only the subbies on the negotiating table. Building disputes in the construction industry vary from small misunderstandings to full-blown fallouts. Both of which are damaging and a downright waste of time and money. The FHB has better things to do with their time.
Around the turn of the millennium Ireland had a small housing stock, with the figure being the smallest in Europe. With income growing and the population increasing the EMU allowed Irish financial lenders to offer mortgages to customers ...
The concept of rural development has changed significantly during the last three decades. Until the 1970s, rural development was synonymous with
Carswell, G., 1997. Agricultural Intensification and Sustainable Rural Livelihoods: A Think Piece. IDS Working Paper 64, Brighton: IDS.
Trying to find a job in the countryside means facing the triple threat. The triple threat is a failing farm and factory-based economy, rising unemployment, and shrinking wages and benefits (Carr & Kefalas, 2009). Why would one want to stay in an area that has fewer jobs, less pay, and less benefits? This is a huge reason why so many individuals are leaving the rural area, there is nothing keeping them to stay. As stated earlier, there are many patterns we can see in terms who decides to leave the rural area and who decides to stay in the rural area. For those who tend to leave the rural area, do so for many reasons. Patterns show that most people are leaving for better paying jobs, benefits, more opportunities, and a better life style (Carr & Kefalas, 2009). Many of these people don’t believe there is a place for them to work if they are not interested in agriculture and or farming. Which in some cases is true, but it is becoming this way because all of these young educated people are leaving and no one is starting up new businesses that would provide more jobs for others. Another big pattern I see effecting people and families to leave the rural area is because of education for there children/child or their future children/child. Everyone wants their children/child to get an
This chapter further provided the research objectives, research questions, methodology of the study, the significance of the study and the outline of the dissertation. This layout is necessary as it provides the general overview of the entire dissertation. The next chapter discusses theories and reviews literature on housing supply, development and the relevance of stakeholders and their involvement in housing development.
Gurran N. & Fagan K, 2007) housing affordability is identified as housing that fullfill the needs of a range of low to moderate income households and priced so that the low and moderate incomes are able to meet their basic living cost. The term of affordability illustrates that many of the conceptual and measurement problems stem from questioned understandings of the problem. Housing affordability is defined as a link between housing and people. Housing affordability is a choice decision function, which made by a family between housing and non-housing expenditure that replicates on the balancing act in the household spending that might consider as very subjective (Mengjie.L, Reed,R & Wu, H,