The County Councils Network (CCN) has brought to light a significant trend: an unprecedented surge in renting within rural areas, overtaking the growth seen in London and the nation’s major cities. This phenomenon has prompted a fervent plea to the forthcoming government for the establishment of a robust, long-term housing strategy.
For generations, England’s picturesque shire counties have been synonymous with the dream of homeownership. However, this dream is increasingly slipping out of reach for many, as the latest research indicates a dramatic shift towards renting. The CCN’s findings unveil that over the past decade, rural and county areas have seen an addition of more than half a million households in private or social rented accommodations—a pace of growth that outstrips that of the urban epicenters of London and its surrounding major cities.
A Deepening Housing Crisis
Councillor Richard Clewer, CCN’s housing and planning spokesperson, said, “It is widely accepted that the housing crisis is one that is worsening, with rising unaffordability locking hundreds of thousands out of getting onto the property ladder. This new data reveals the impact of this in rural and county areas: with the rise in people renting in these places outpacing even London and the major cities, whilst home ownership rates have gone into decline. This growing unaffordability impacts on council services too, tipping more people onto local authority housing waiting lists, into homelessness, and into temporary accommodation where costs are increasingly becoming exorbitant. This report does not suggest that we alleviate these issues by concreting over our countryside. Instead, it sets out a number of important yet easily deliverable recommendations that, taken together, could accelerate the delivery of new homes of all tenures where there is most need.”
A Call to Arms for Future Governments
The urgency for a cohesive, long-term housing plan has never been more apparent. Local authorities are championing a comprehensive strategy that includes a commitment to diverse housing types, with a special emphasis on bolstering social housing. They argue for a reevaluation of existing policies such as the Right to Buy and urge the swift enactment of the Renters (Reform) Bill.
Digging into the numbers, the report paints a stark picture: a 19% rise in rented dwellings in rural areas from 2011 to 2021, elevating rented properties to nearly a third of all housing in these regions. This increase is particularly pronounced in private renting, with a 31% increase signaling a significant shift in living preferences, likely driven by the unaffordability in London pushing residents to seek alternatives.
Despite these challenges, rural communities have not stood idly by. Over 606,000 new homes have been constructed between 2018 and 2023, outpacing the rest of the country. This effort includes the creation of 42,000 affordable homes, a figure that doubles the national average. Yet, this progress falls short of the government’s annual target of 300,000 new homes, underscoring the persistent gap between goals and reality.