AFFORDABLE HOUSING

Affordable Housing Policies

Affordable Housing Policies

Introduction

Affordable housing represents the low cost market. it can also be termed as the subsidized housing which is available to people who are unable to afford to buy a house or even have a house on rent that are available on the open market. The concept behind the affordable housing is to provide the house to those households to help them meet the needs of such people. The many countries have realized that fact that a shortage of housing and the increased rates of houses provided on rent have made it difficult for many people who have an average income to afford house even on the rent. The motive of English regions behind the demand for affordable housing is to protect the countryside of towns and cities and to ensure the sustainability of those cities and towns. The government describes the affordable housing includes the social rented housing to which government terms as the intermediated housing. These houses can be accessed through the local authority or the RSL housing registers. These houses are made available at intermediate rents which are above the social rent, but below the market rent. This affordable housing is made available to already identified people who are separated as the key workers to get this subsidy.

According to the section 106 of planning agreements that; “Housing requires a local planning authority to define what it considers to be affordable in its areas in terms of relationship between local income levels and house prices or rents for different types of households. This is used in considering planning applications for both market and sub-market housing”. The purpose behind this report is to identify and compare the affordable housing policies of both of the countries and how much share they have got in the United Kingdom. The affordable housing policy for Scotland is set by the Scottish Parliament while the policy for England is set by the Department for Communities and Local Government.

Discussion

This study aims at discussing the different contrasting and similar policies and strategies of Scotland and England in order to address the rising issue of homelessness and the provision of affordable housing for both countries.

Affordable Housing Policy for Scotland

The government of Scotland has been involved in putting efforts for the needy people to get the affordable home since the country faced the economic crunch in the year 2008. Scottish ministers are now urging the builders of the house to be a part of their cause as well as a scheme to provide the affordable homes to many needy and homeless people across the Scotland in order to reduce the ratio of poverty and below the poverty line people (Gibb & Leishman, 2011). Scottish government has introduced a new affordable housing act that aims at safeguarding social housing for the future generations through improving the value for people and the tax payers through their modernized housing regulation (Scotland, 2011).

Home Report

The government made efforts and provided the home reports to the builders that comprise ...