Let's celebrate Rural Housing Week 2022

The theme for this year’s Rural Housing Week is Levelling Up Rural Communities

Levelling up is about making our rural communities vibrant and flourishing places to live.

With a widening gap between urban and rural economies, the key to Levelling Up Rural Communities is investing in affordable rural housing to ensure every person can live in a safe, secure, good quality home.

Wages and salaries in rural areas are on average lower than those in urban areas[1], and development opportunities are harder to access. Despite this, rural housing is often more expensive than urban housing. Which means too many people who grew up or work in rural communities can’t afford to live there.

Tragically, homelessness in rural areas has more than doubled in the last two years[2] and more people in rural communities are living in poor quality or unsuitable homes or are forced to move away from their home.

Such as a young mother, who has recently moved into one of our affordable homes in her Warwickshire village. In her previous home she couldn’t let her child play outside, as her neighbours made her feel unsafe. She was stuck, didn’t want to stay, but didn’t want to move away from her parents or job.

And, a married couple, who’d been living separately with their respective parents. They couldn’t afford a home of their own together.

Their new homes have changed their lives and meant they can stay in their communities near to family and work.

Since moving into their new rural housing association homes, they feel secure, comfortable and supported. Everyone deserves the right to feel like this.

[1] Towards a greener Green Book process. Delivering the promise of proportionate public funding for rural communities. Commissioned from Pragmatix Advisory Limited and funded by Britain’s Leading Edge, CPRE, English Rural and Rural Services Network.
[2] CPRE, the countryside charity