Nearly 700,000 people are now stuck on waiting lists for an affordable home in rural England – the National Housing Federation and Campaign to Protect Rural England has warned.

Over the last five years, the number of people waiting for an affordable home in country areas has soared by 37%, up from 507,757 in 2003 to 695,735 last year.

That means that on average 14,494 people have been added to housing waiting lists in rural areas every month over the last four years.

The situation is now so serious that the National Housing Federation (NHF) and CPRE are today (Monday, September 29) launching a charter, Save Rural England, Build Affordable Homes, containing an eight point blueprint, setting out how the supply of affordable homes could be significantly, and appropriately, increased in rural communities.

Figures released by the Federation and CPRE expose the scale of the housing crisis in the countryside.
- The proportion of homeless households in rural areas has more than doubled over the last five years from 16% to 37% of the national total.
- In four South West rural districts, at least 11% of the local population is on a waiting list for affordable housing.
- In the Lake District authority of Allerdale, the number of households applying for an affordable home has increased by 107% over the last five years.
- In Dorset, house prices are over 15 times local incomes, one in 30 homes is a second home and waiting lists have doubled in the past five years.
- The number of households now on waiting lists for an affordable rural home is 311,989.

The Federation and CPRE fear that with the younger generation priced out of the market in many rural areas, unless action is taken to address the lack of affordable homes rural communities face an uncertain future. The only way to solve the problem is to build a limited number of affordable homes in every village and rural town where a need has been identified.

The recommendations made in the charter include:
- Ensuring that a fair share of future government spending on social housing is committed to delivering affordable rural homes.
- Restricting the right to buy in rural areas of acute housing pressure.
- Ensuring all rural planning authorities set ambitious but achievable affordable housing targets.

The Federation and CPRE are calling on the Government to publish a clear timetable for responding to Liberal Democrat MP Matthew Taylor’s landmark report into the rural housing crisis. Since the report was published in July, the Government has given no indication if it will act on its findings.

Federation Chief Executive David Orr said: “The rural housing crisis is intensifying rapidly, with more and more people being priced out of the market and having to live in cramped and unsuitable conditions.

“Ministers need urgently to implement the key recommendations in the Taylor Review and the Federation and CPRE joint action plan if they are to help those in need of an affordable rural home.

“Without urgent action by ministers many of our villages are in danger of becoming the preserve of the rich and weekend playgrounds for second home owners, with schools, pubs and post offices at risk of closing because of a lack of customers.

“Others are at risk of becoming very poor – as economic activity and young people of a working age are simply squeezed out.”