Affordable Housing Tenure and Type

HO.4 Affordable Housing Tenure and Type A. Tenure Mix The Councils will seek the following affordable housing tenure split: • Minimum 60% Social Rent • Maximum 40% Shared Ownership Alternative tenures will only be considered in exceptional circumstances and where robust justification is provided, including demonstrating that the proposed tenures are affordable relative to local house prices and earnings. All schemes must give consideration to the principle of forming mixed and balanced communities. B. Type Mix To maximise flexibility in the housing stock, 1 and 2 bed affordable homes should be provided through an appropriate mix of bungalows, flats, apartments, maisonettes and houses, whilst 3 and 4 bed affordable homes should be provided as houses. 5% of Rented Affordable Housing should be provided as ground level, single level homes. C. Design Requirements Through high design standards, new affordable housing units must be fully integrated within developments being physically and visually indistinguishable from the market units and dispersed across the site in clusters appropriate to the size, scale and layout of the development. Policy Justification 5.2.9 Affordable Housing is an umbrella term that covers several different tenures of housing, both for rent and home ownership, which are designed to address the different housing needs of individual households who are unable to access suitable housing on the open market. 5.2.10 The Strategic Housing Market Assessment (SHMA 2026)evaluated the need for different tenures of Affordable Housing and found a requirement for 60% Social Rent, 20% Affordable Rent and 20% Affordable Home Ownership. The Local Planning Authorities are however concerned that Affordable Rent homes are less affordable than Social Rent homes and some households can find themselves trapped on housing benefit or Universal Credit to cover the rent. To address this issue the delivery of Social Rent homes has been prioritised and all rented affordable housing are required to be delivered in this tenure. To balance the impact this has on development viability the proportion of Shared Ownership dwellings was initially increased from 20% to 30%. However due to wider viability challenges and a desire to deliver as many affordable homes as possible, this was increased again to 40%. 5.2.11 In respect of affordable home ownership units, this term includes several different tenures including Shared Ownership, Rent to Buy and Discounted Market Sale housing. The SHMA found that there was no evidence to support the need for Discounted Market Sale within South Warwickshire (including First Homes). Further, Rent to Buy was found to offer insufficient savings for households to be able to afford a 10% deposit on a property. It is therefore considered that Shared Ownership is the most appropriate form of affordable home ownership tenure in South Warwickshire, particularly as buyers can now purchase as little as 10% equity. There may however be exceptional circumstances where the preferred tenure split is not appropriate or deliverable. Subject to clear evidence being provided, alternative tenure splits will be considered. In the event an alternative tenure split includes Affordable Rent, this should be capped at Local Housing Allowance rates. 5.2.12 As well as the tenure and size of a home, the type of home is also important. Most new homes within South Warwickshire are provided as houses, but some are built as apartments, maisonettes or bungalows. Developments will be expected to provide an appropriate range of house types, taking into account the location of the development, but given the ageing population across South Warwickshire, a requirement for a small proportion of ground floor single level homes has been included to respond to this demographic change. Depending on the location of the development and the density requirements, these may take the form of bungalows or ground floor apartments. 5.2.13 In respect of the affordability of Affordable Housing the SHMA has highlighted the high housing costs within South Warwickshire relative to incomes. In particular Discounted Market Sale housing was only found to be affordable with a discount of at least 40% from open market value whereas the minimum level of discount required by the NPPF is 20%. This highlights the need for proposals to have regard to local housing costs and incomes. Where applicable, any assessment of housing costs should include reference to all relevant costs including service charges. 5.2.14 The NPPF references the need to create mixed and balanced communities and it is considered that to achieve this it is important that new Affordable Housing is both fully integrated into developments and indistinguishable from market housing. This includes the design and materials of individual units alon