Press Release on ‘Dorset’s Affordable Housing Crisis?’ post conference

Housing delivered in Dorset should be focussed on meeting the county’s true needs

Press Release

With housing a major campaign issue for all political parties, not least the new Labour Government, the Dorset CPRE conference on the 20th June titled, ‘Dorset’s Affordable Housing Crisis?’ was timely.  The conference was instigated by Dorset CPRE’s strong belief that housing delivered in Dorset should be focussed on meeting the county’s true needs.

Lord Richard Best, Crossbench Peer and Social Housing Leader, chaired the conference following an introduction by Dorset CPRE President, Kate Adie.

The three questions ‘How many new homes are needed in Dorset? What sort of homes? And who is paying?’ were addressed by Mike Allen from Dorset CPRE’s Planning Group.

Dr Quintin Bradley, Senior Lecturer in Planning and Housing at Leeds Beckett University, reviewed the relationship between affordability and housing need and the mismatch between Government targets and the backlog of unmet need.

Elizabeth Bundred-Woodward and Brad Taylor from National CPRE presented the findings of CPRE’s report, ‘Unravelling a crisis: the state of rural affordable housing in England’, with a focus on Dorset and the Southwest.

Paul Derrien, Dorset Council Housing Enabling Team Leader, gave an insight into the challenges facing Dorset and the Council’s plans for the future.

Finally, Alison Ward, Director of Middlemarch, provided an overview of Community Land Trusts, their benefits and local examples.

About ninety people attended the online conference, including many Parish, Town and Dorset Councillors, as well as housebuilders, Community Land Trusts, housing associations and members of Dorset CPRE.

The speakers highlighted the inability of the then Government Policy to deliver housing targeted at meeting the nation’s need for truly affordable housing; instead policy is focussed on building large numbers of market homes of which only a small proportion are designated as ‘affordable housing.’ Often these homes are not ‘affordable’ for the families that need them.

Dorset CPRE’s message was that communities need homes that people can afford to live in, particularly social rented housing. The current housing target of 1900 homes per annum is far higher than Dorset’s shrinking local population needs, yet the affordable homes that are desperately needed are not being built. As permission has been granted for 13,000 unbuilt homes, Dorset CPRE believe that a lower target of 1300 homes per annum would suffice to meet Dorset’s demand for housing, a significant proportion of which should be allocated for social rented homes: the number suggested by Dorset CPRE was 577 each year.

Social rent homes need extra subsidy initially, but that subsidy returns to communities a long-term economic benefit in providing local, healthy, and stable long-term homes for those unable to afford spiralling market rents. A recent report by CEBR showed that the total economic and social benefits of building 90,000 social homes nationally would generate £51.2bn net over 30 years.

The challenge faced by Dorset Council to meet the need for affordable housing was evident. Homeless figures have increased from under 3500 in 2021/22 to over 4000 in 2023/24.  Currently there are 500 new applicants per month for housing, the greatest requirement being for 1 and 2 bedroom homes, with smaller numbers applying for family sized accommodation.

Communities can take a pro-active approach towards providing homes that meet their needs by forming Community Land Trusts. These homes tend to be in locations that work for the community, designed to meet the community’s individual requirements and secured for future generations

Lord Best summed up the conference by saying, “We need more affordable housing, more homes for local people, more housing that is social rented that is genuinely affordable housing for the future. It may cost money, but you get the money back!”

Jez Hughes, Vice-Chair of Dorset CPRE, highlighted the relevance of the Conference to the work of Dorset CPRE after the General Election: “We will be calling on our newly elected Members of Parliament to be advocating a focus on more affordable housing in a way that genuinely supports local young people in rural communities and protects and enhances the environment they live in.”

See our conference event page for copies of the presentations and a link to the recordings.