Rural Housing Week 2024

This rural housing week, we want to get the message out, loud and clear, that affordable housing is essential to the prosperity of rural communities.

• Affordable housing ensures people can afford to stay in their local area.
• It allows families and support networks to stay together.
• It enables young people, starting out on an independent life, to stay in their community.
• It enables older people to downsize and stay in their village.
• It enables people who work in the area to live locally.
• It supports the local rural economy.

In fact, building just 10 affordable homes in a rural area can generate £1.4m and supports 26 jobs for local people. With the right conditions rural housing associations have the capability to significantly boost the economy and local communities – but what we need is a long-term plan for housing.

Despite the relatively low number of new homes needed to sustain a village, building new affordable homes in rural areas is extremely challenging. Complex planning policies, a shortage of investment and stretched resources is stunting development in rural areas and threatening the long-term prosperity of rural communities.

During Rural Housing Week 2024, we’ll be talking about some of the challenges mentioned above, and sharing some of the reasons why it’s so important that they’re overcome.