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Affordable housing is subsidised housing that is made available to those who cannot afford to purchase a property or to privately rent.  People may be unable to get a mortgage for several reasons including; low earnings, unemployment, ill-health and receiving benefits.  It may also be unaffordable to privately rent in the private sector due to the high levels of rent charged and the requirement to provide big deposits and rent in advance on most properties.
 
Affordable housing may be known by several names: shared-ownership; shared equity; homebuy; part rent-part buy; intermediate rented housing and social housing.

Shared ownership/shared equity/part rent-part buy

Where you buy a share in a property whilst renting the remainder from a housing association.  Typically you buy a 50% share.  The cost of a shared ownership property will involve monthly mortgage repayments, rental repayments, possible service charges to the housing association for management fees and buildings and contents insurance.  This should mean that your monthly outgoings should be less than if you bought the property outright.

Intermediate rented

This relates to newly built or refurbished properties rented to you between 20 to 30% lower than you would expect to pay for the same property through a private landlord.  The properties are owned by Housing Associations.  These may be suitable for people who do not qualify for social rented accommodation but who cannot afford to purchase a home of their own or to privately rent.

Homebuy schemes

These are another name for shared ownership or shared equity as explained above.  New build homebuy allows you to buy 25% to 75% share in a property with a housing association.  You pay rent on the part you don't own.

My choice homebuy

Allows you to buy a home of your choice for sale on the open market by getting a mortgage for a percentage of the price.  However due to limited funds this option is not currently available in this area.

Social housing

This refers to council housing and housing association properties only, these are rented at lower than market rent levels because the government and the homes and communities agency help fund their developments. Social housing is only given to people who can demonstrate a need for this type of accommodation and people have to register with the council to be able to obtain these properties.
 
In Nuneaton and Bedworth we have a selection of most of the above types of property.  We work in partnership with housing associations, developers and private landlords to provide a range of affordable options for people in the borough.

The council's housing and planning department work together to assess the housing needs of the borough and to understand the market.  Based on these assessments the number of affordable homes needed each year is calculated.  The council is committed to the delivery of more affordable homes and it is a top priority in the borough's sustainable community plan.

All new planning applications submitted involving developments of 15 units or more are scrutinised to ensure that the right proportion of units are affordable units.  At the moment 25% of such developments need to be affordable units.  So for example if a developer wanted to build 100 homes on a site, 25 of them would have to be affordable.  Very often a developer will work with a housing association to take on the management of these units on completion.

Last updated Thursday, 1st June 2023

• Previous Housing Associations in the borough