Affordable housing development
Affordable housing is defined in the National Planning Policy Framework as housing for rent or for sale for those whose needs are not met by the current market.
Types of affordable housing can be found in our affordable housing guide [PDF, 0.3MB].
Providing affordable housing is a key issue which is impacted by the high cost of buying or renting on the open market in comparison to local household incomes.
As of June 2024 there are 2,077 people on our housing register in need of an affordable property for affordable or social rent.
Affordable housing is built through Registered Providers, Private Developers, and by our own New Build Team.
Affordable housing policy
All developments of 10 dwellings or more must provide 40% of homes as affordable. On all new developments that provide an affordable housing contribution, the Council seeks to achieve 70% affordable or social rented and 30% shared ownership. If First Homes are been provided the applicant should look at the First Homes Interim Statement.
Exception sites are sites that lie outside of the development framework boundary and can come forward if there is an identified local housing need for 100% affordable housing.
- South Cambridgeshire Adopted Local Plan 2018: The South Cambridgeshire Local Plan sets out the planning policies and land allocations to guide the future development of the district up to 2031.
- Greater Cambridgeshire Housing Strategy (2019 to 2023) [PDF, 5.5MB] The housing strategy describes the approach we will take to meet our housing objectives.
- Greater Cambridgeshire Housing Strategy Annexes (2019 to 2023) [PDF, 0.4MB] [PDF, 0.4MB]
- Greater Cambridgeshire Housing Strategy (2019 to 2023) - Build to rent policy [PDF, 0.2MB] [PDF, 0.2MB]
- Greater Cambridgeshire Housing Strategy (2019 to 2023) - Affordable rent policy [PDF, 0.1MB] [PDF, 0.1MB]
- Greater Cambridgeshire Housing Strategy (2019 to 2023) - Clustering distribution of affordable housing policy [PDF, 0.1MB] [PDF, 0.1MB]
- Housing Needs of Specific Groups – October 2021: A study on the needs of people whose need are not met by the current housing available. It looks at the specific groups to focus on when discussing future housing need in the District.
- First Homes Interim Position Statement [PDF, 0.2MB [PDF, 92Kb] [PDF, 92Kb]: This is the Councils position statement on First Homes until our New Greater Cambridgeshire Local Plan is adopted.
- HCA Affordable Homes Programme
- GL Hearn Report
For more information on any affordable housing policies please contact: strategic.housing@scambs.gov.uk.
We work closely across the sub-region and with its key partners to assess the housing needs of specific groups, market insights, affordability of housing and funding provided by Homes England.
Affordable housing completions
There have been a high number of affordable housing completions enabled by our Housing Strategy Team working together with the Registered Providers, Our New Build team, Parish Councils and Developers. Over the past 3 years our total units completed are as follows:
- to date the Affordable Housing Completed for this financial year (Quarter 1 and Quarter 2) between April 2023 to March 2024 is 115 units, of which 61 are for affordable rent and 54 units are for shared ownership
- the Affordable Housing Completed between April 2022 to March 2023 (Quarters 1 to 4) were a total of 184 units, of which 48 units were for social rent, 207 for affordable rent, 187 for shared ownership and 5 for rent-to-buy
- the Affordable Housing Completed between April 2021 to March 2022 (Quarters 1 to 4) were a total of 680 units. This consisted of 512 units for affordable rent and 168 units for shared ownership
Affordable Housing Completed this financial year (April 2022 to March 2023) to date are shown in the below table. Quarters 3 and Quarters 4 will be added accordingly when we have the data back from our Affordable Housing Providers.
|
Affordable Housing Completed between April 2023 - March 2024 |
Social Rent |
Affordable Rent |
Shared Ownership |
Other |
Total |
|
April to June 2023 |
0 |
40 |
35 |
0 |
75 |
|
July to September 2023 |
0 |
21 |
19 |
0 |
40 |
|
October to December 2023 |
0 |
86 |
41 |
5 Discount Market Sale |
132 |
|
January to March 2024 |
39 |
82 |
56 |
9 (Rent to Buy) / 6 Discount Market Sale |
192 |
|
Total for Year End |
39 |
229 |
160 |
20 |
448 |
Applying for affordable housing
Applicants in need of affordable or social rented properties should be on the Housing Register Home-Link.
For applicants in need of an intermediate tenure, such as shared ownership, please contact the Registered Provider.
You can find all registered social landlords operating in South Cambridgeshire on our registered social landlords contacts list.
Housing needs survey
We work in partnership with Cambridgeshire ACRE and a number of Housing Associations to deliver affordable housing for villages in South Cambridgeshire.
With the huge disparities between property prices and income, many families have had to move away from the area as they are unable to afford the price of properties. In order to stay within the village, rural exception sites in rural locations are key allowing development of affordable properties where market housing would not normally be acceptable. Homes can only be brought forward on these sites if there is a proven unmet local housing need for affordable housing. To prove this need, a Housing Needs Survey is undertaken.
A Housing Needs Survey helps the Council to understand the housing need in rural communities. A survey is posted to every address in the village, which the exception site is to be built in, and asks questions around the needs of the applicant. This information alongside the information from the housing register helps to build our understanding of the housing need of the village. With this survey
The survey questionnaire is posted to every address in the village and has been carried out by Cambridgeshire Acre since 2009.
To request a copy of a Housing Needs Survey, please contact us