More affordable homes built in Rother this year – as numbers rise across England

A general view of construction work on the O Cualann Cohousing affordable housing scheme in Ballymun North Dublin. Opposition leader Micheal Martin has accused Taoiseach Leo Varadkar of complacency in his approach to the country's housing crisis.

More affordable homes were built in Rother this year, new figures show, as numbers rose across England.

More than 63,000 affordable homes were delivered across the country as of March 2023 – the highest number since 2014-15.

But experts said this is still inadequate and a more ambitious house building agenda is needed.

Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities figures show 174 affordable homes were completed in Rother in 2022-23 – up from 15 during the same period the year before.

The figures include social and affordable rental properties, affordable home ownership, shared ownership and first homes. The number of social rent homes, however, has seen a fall in the last decade, with affordable rent now the most common housing for new supply.

Social rental properties are for low-income families and typically cost about 50% of market rents, while affordable housing is provided to low-income earners and can be charged up to 80% of market rents.

Luke Murphy, associate director at think tank the Institute for Public Policy Research, said: “While it’s positive to see the overall number of affordable homes being built rise, it is still far short of adequate and the number of genuinely affordable homes built – those for social rent – remain at historically low levels.”

In Rother, 47 affordable rent homes and 95 shared ownership dwellings were delivered.

Mr Murphy added: “The housing crisis in England is having significant impacts on people across the country, with many struggling with high rents, lack of security and stability, and poor quality accommodation.

“We need a far more ambitious house building agenda, which must include planning reform and a significant increase in public investment in genuinely affordable housing.”