North Devon’s affordable housing crisis - North Devon Homes

In North Devon there is a housing crisis. There are simply not enough affordable homes to go around.

Of the existing housing stock in North Devon, a report published in 2022 showed that 1,800 homes are ‘second homes’ or have simply been empty for more than six months. This figure is teasingly close to the number of households currently on the waiting list in North Devon for an affordable home.

It was also reported that last summer one in four homes in Woolacombe were available on AirBNB. Given that only 2 per cent of the land in Devon has been built on, a third of the national average of 6 per cent, it’s no great surprise that the existing homes are fiercely in demand in such an attractive location.

Earlier in the summer, I was at a public consultation promoting a local development which is currently in the planning system and proposes 50% affordable housing for those in the local area. A lot of those who attended where supportive of the proposals, which was fantastic. However, there were also those who attended who had less enthusiasm with comments including 'the 100 new homes would drastically change the area', 'we don’t have need for these homes', 'what’s to stop these becoming second homes or Airbnb'?

The is simply a clear need for these new affordable homes. They house our local families and keyworkers who can’t afford the prices and rents in the open market. They are the homes which will be occupied throughout the year, not just in ‘peak season’. The children will go the local schools and the development will help fund their education through contributions ringfenced to be spent locally. The residents of these homes will work in, and support, our local economy outside of the summer holidays.

They are the homes which on a cold February morning will have the lights on. As for the private element of the development - we can’t simply dismiss these market facing homes, without the profit realised from their sale we simply can’t afford to deliver the affordable homes. The construction costs to build affordable homes are currently more than the social rents can support – so without external subsidy from Government through grants, or cross subsidy from private sector development they can’t be built.

North Devon Homes is the largest local affordable housing provider for North Devon. A few years ago we created a company called Anchorwood that can build private homes as well as affordable, with the resulting profits being Gift Aided back to North Devon Homes so we can build more affordable homes. But without the local community’s support planning permissions take longer and longer to secure, and in some cases they just aren’t forthcoming.

So, a rallying cry for North Devon’s support in these challenging times please. It’s never been more important for our local communities to come together with other key stakeholders at parish and local authority levels to maintain the supply of new affordable homes for our local families.