As you will be aware the lack of sufficient locally affordable housing is an issue across Sussex. This has a number of negative impacts on rural communities:
- Young people living with parents longer
- People moving out of rural communities for more affordable housing
- More commuting to work as people move to further afield
- Difficulty for older residents to downsize as their housing needs change
- Affordability issues for residents living in expensive private rented housing
There is a clear need in most rural communities for more locally affordable homes to be provided.
Action in rural Sussex is relaunching its rural enabling service, building on many years of successful Rural Housing Enabling to help increase provision across Sussex. We have a long track record of supporting rural communities with the provision of affordable housing to meet local needs, having been one of the first to employ a Rural Housing Enabler back in the 1990’s. Our service has enabled the provision of 17 rural affordable housing schemes – some 275 homes.
The Service will cover the whole of rural East and West Sussex. From 1st April 2024 we will be appointing an additional, dedicated Rural Housing Enabler to work alongside existing staff.
The new service will include all aspects of rural housing enabling including:
- Raising awareness of locally affordable housing provision
- Undertaking local Housing Needs Surveys
- Identifying and appraising of sites
- Brokering partnerships between parish councils, housing providers and funders
- Facilitating community consultations
- Supporting Neighbourhood Plan and Community Led Planning groups
- Highlighting best practice and successful built examples
We are also re-launching the Sussex Rural Affordable Housing Partnership as an advisory group which review progress on delivery, share best practice and advise on the programme. The Partnership will comprise of the local authorities: Arun, Chichester, Horsham, Lewes, Mid Sussex, Rother, and Wealden, plus the South Downs National Park Authority, East Sussex Association of Local Councils, West Sussex Association of Local Councils, and Homes England.
Our ‘honest broker’ role has always been central to rural enabling. We will
continue to do this offering parish councils a range of options towards meeting local affordable housing need. In our experience communities want to get the homes built and address local needs with the minimum of difficulty. We will now be in a much better position to offer more advice, support, and guidance to enable this.
If you would like a preliminary discussion or more information on how we might assist you to provide more locally affordable rural housing in your community – please get in touch today!
Best regards
Graham Maunders
Community Led Housing Advisor
Work Days : Monday – Thursday
Tel: 07824 900092
Sussex Community Housing Hub Website: www.sussexcommunityhousinghub.org/
Twitter: @HubSussex
