Affordable Housing

6.29 Planning Policy Statement 3 for housing refers to affordable housing as 'non-market housing, provided to those whose needs are not met by the market. It can include social-rented housing and ' intermediate housing'.

6.30 Intermediate 6 and Social Rented Housing - During 1991-2005 the number of social housing units in the South West fell overall by 11,000 dwellings (a 3.5% decline, compared with 11% for England). In England as a whole, the proportion of the housing stock available for social housing has declined since 1980, when as DCLG (formerly ODPM) statistics show some 30% of the housing stock consisted of social housing units. In 2005, only 13% of the housing stock consisted of social housing units.

6.31 This change is principally due to the reduction in social housing funding and the sale of local authority housing for private ownership under the 'Right to Buy Scheme' introduced in 1980. In addition, large scale transfers of local authority housing stock to Housing Associations introduced in 1988 have reduced the role of local authorities as social housing providers.The volume of disposals varies significantly from year to year and local authorities in the South West have sold off a greater proportion of their housing stock than the national average (64% compared to 54% according to ODPM data for December 2004).

6.32 Since 1991, the number of homes rented from Registered Social Landlords has increased by over 70% (63,000 in 1991, to 163,000 in 2005), and this has gone some way to significantly reducing the overall fall in total social housing figures. The number of Homebuy dwellings provided by the Housing Corporation under its National Affordable Housing Programme in the period 2004-2006 was 567.

6.33 Affordable Housing Completions - Local authorities across the South West report that approximately 4000 affordable homes were built in the South West in 2005-2006. This included those provided through S106 agreements, but may not include all of those funded through a mix of contributions. This may account for the difference between figures suggested by DCLG and by the Housing Corporation. For more information see the Housing Corporation Outturn report 2004-2006 ­­­­& DCLG Housing Statistics