Rural Housing Week runs from 1-5 July this year and is orgainsed by the National Housing Federation.

They say "Affordable housing is essential to the prosperity of rural communities. Research shows that building just 10 affordable homes in a rural area generates £1.4m for the economy and supports an average of 26 jobs in the area. However, despite the relatively small scale of these projects, building new affordable homes in rural areas is extremely challenging. The delivery of affordable rural homes is often hampered by complex planning policies, a shortage of investment and stretched resources, leading to limited development in rural areas. These barriers combine to restrict housing supply for rural communities, which threatens their long-term sustainability."

And in the Fenland area, which is where we work, if just 100 affordable homes were build in our region it would give an annual increase of £6,069,437 (GVA) to the local economy and create 84 jobs. Not to mention the 100 families who could then afford to buy a home. And if social housing stock was increased by 100 homes and managed by Housing Associations, this would add a further £431,677 (GVA) to the local economy and create 5 jobs, as well as provide much needed cosial housing to 100 new tenants.*

It is vital that the social and economic benefits of increasing affordable housing as well as the social housing stock in rural areas like ours are realised by the next government and that plans are urgently put in place to address the housing crisis that the country is currently in.

And for those who do find themselves homeless in rural areas, better funding for support needs to be put in place to help address the problems homeless people in rural areas face, as their needs and difficulties are often different to those encountered in urban areas.

Keith Smith, our Director says "We need people to know that homelessness is not just found in towns and cities, but also in the lovely countryside of the UK. Each night hundreds of people sleep on the ground or in make shift tents and shacks all across the country. They often have no toilets or access to normal washing facilities. To help them they need services they can access near to them. The help people receive when they are homeless should not depend on where they live."

*figures calculated using the National Housing Federation's Local Impact Calculator