More Than 2,000 Villages Overlooked For Affordable Homes

More than 2,000 villages are missing out on new affordable homes because they are classified as “unsuitable for growth” by the local planning process, new research reveals. The CLA analysed 70 Local Plans from the most rural local authorities to find 2,154 villages across England are judged to be unsustainable – meaning housing allocation, including the delivery of affordable homes in these communities, is either highly restricted or not permitted, further exacerbating the rural housing crisis. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/more-than-2000-villages-overlooked-for-affordable-homes/

Ministers To Reverse Universal Credit Policy For Homeless Families

Ministers are to bow to pressure to exclude homeless families from universal credit after it emerged that design flaws in the troubled new benefits system have triggered an explosion in rent arrears, costing council tax payers millions of pounds. Local authorities in London say rent collection levels for homeless tenants placed in emergency accommodation have collapsed following the introduction of the universal credit digital service last year. Croydon council says it faces an unpaid £2.5m rent bill this year as a result, and has warned ministers this scale of losses is unsustainable. It said the costs were leaving councils potentially unable to meet their statutory duties under homelessness law. Read more on the Guardian website.

Britain's Property Market Is Going To Implode As Housing Nears Peak Affordability

Property prices in Britain may be surging due to a horrendous imbalance of supply and demand — but the market is poised to implode. Why? Because Britons are not earning enough money to either get on the housing ladder or are spending such a large portion of their wages on mortgages that may not be sustainable. That's the assumption in the latest figures from think tank Resolution Foundation, which show that lower- and middle-income households are spending 26% of their salaries on housing, compared to 18% back in 1995. In London, households spend 28% of their income on housing. The think tank said this is the equivalent to adding 10 percentage points onto income tax. Read more on Yahoo News.