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The government should use a Living Rents development framework to accelerate the delivery of affordable homes, the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF) has claimed.
The thinktank has said the government should amend the National Planning Policy Framework’s (NPPF) definition of affordable housing to include Living Rent rates linked to local earnings.
The recommendations were included in JRF’s response to the Housing White Paper, released today.
“If the policy priority is to reduce the cost of housing as a percentage of income – and it should be – then the logical solution is to introduce a rented product whose cost is linked to the low incomes of those likely to occupy the property,” the report reads.
It claims housing associations and local authorities in England would be able to build “at least” 40,000 Living Rent homes a year with £3bn of annual government investment to support intermediate rent and shared ownership affordable housing.
JRF defines Living Rents as based on 33% of lower quartile net earnings – or 28% of gross earnings – in the local area.
Brian Robson, policy and research manager at the JRF, said: “For many people, high rental costs make the difference between just about managing and not being able to manage at all: poverty in the private rented sector has doubled in the past decade, leaving millions trapped in insecure, expensive housing.
“We desperately need affordable, secure homes across all tenures.”
The Department for Communities and Local Government has been approached for comment.