Redefining Affordability – a CPRE Briefing

We all need a stable home we can afford to live in, no matter where we are. To give everyone in the countryside a fair chance in life, we must ensure that there are enough low cost homes in our villages and market towns, whether to rent or buy.

But for too long, we have not built the right kind of homes in rural areas. The problem is only getting worse, with rents and house prices rising steadily and wages failing to keep pace.

This briefing sets out a new definition of ‘affordable’ for national planning policy. We believe that this could help to change policy by reconnecting rents and local incomes, so that more homes are available at a price that low income households can afford to pay.