Affordable Housing

Delivering affordable housing in partnership is a the key aim to both help people in housing need and create sustainable, vibrant communities in Rhondda Cynon Taf for current and future generations.

What is Affordable Housing?

Affordable Housing is classed as housing that is provided for sale or rent at below open market prices and where there are secure mechanisms in place to ensure that it is accessible to those who cannot afford market housing, both on first occupation and for subsequent occupiers. However, some schemes may provide for staircasing to full ownership and where this is the case there must be secure arrangements in place to ensure the recycling of capital receipts to provide replacement affordable housing.

This definition therefore includes social rented housing (provided by housing associations at benchmark rent levels) and low cost home ownership (i.e. 70-30 equity schemes for first time buyers). Intermediate rented housing (provided by housing associations at sub market rent levels) is another form of affordable housing, although there is no market for this product in Rhondda Cynon Taf due to the thin gap between benchmark rent and Local Housing Allowance.

Private housing for sale or rent is not classified as affordable housing as the price of such accommodation is set by the market and the occupation of such units is not subject to control by the local housing or planning authority. 

Local Housing Market Assessment July 2022

Local Housing Market Assessments (LHMA) are conducted biennially by the Council's Affordable Housing Officer to identify strategic housing priorities within the locality.  The full Cabinet Report can be viewed here.

Whilst assessing the local housing market as a whole, the most recent LHMA also specifically estimated the need for affordable housing within the County Borough. Overall, there is a net need for 3,824 affordable housing units over a 15 year period as of July 2022.

• 3,824 Social Rent Units
• 685 Low Cost Home Ownership Units

However, these figures are not delivery targets or even the solution to the affordability issues within the County Borough. They are instead an indication of the scale of the affordable housing problem and a benchmark to which the Council will work towards as far as practically deliverable. Additionally, it is important to emphasise that headline figures distort differences in sub market areas and between property types required. Hence, more attention should be paid to the local housing need identified within this Assessment on a local area basis.

How does the Council provide Affordable Housing?

The Council will work with its partners and prioritise affordable housing delivery through a number of mechanisms,  including:

• Social Housing Grant (SHG) - a capital grant made available by the Welsh Government to provide new affordable housing. SHG is also used to provide much needed supported housing which is often difficult to deliver through any other mechanism. The Council coordinates distribution of SHG to our housing association partners based on agreed criteria relating to housing need and scheme delivery.
• Section 106 (s106) – affordable housing is also secured through the planning system via s106. The adopted Local Development Plan specifies that 10% affordable housing provision is required on sites of 10 residential units or more in the Northern Strategy Area, and 20% is required on sites of 5 residential units or more in the Sourthern Strategy Area. SHG is not normally available for s106 sites in Rhondda Cynon Taf.
• Vacant Property Refurbishment - all housing associations in the County Borough have investment strategies to bring long-term empty properties back into use. The Council will help co-ordinate and monitor the number long-term voids brought back into use and also work in partnership to bring back private sector empty properties into use.

Further Information

More detailed information on affordable housing options for sale and rent in Rhondda Cynon Taf can found on the HomefinderRCT website.

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