Demand for housing in rural areas has soared since the pandemic, and more needs to be done to provide affordable rural homes in Shropshire, a housing association boss said today.
Rural Housing Week has highlighted the challenge of meeting the national housing crisis, with campaigners calling on the Government to “level up” rural and urban areas.
John Green, chief executive of Shropshire Rural Housing Association, said figures released during Rural Housing Week made the issues very clear.
He said: “According to research carried out by English Rural Housing Association, one of the leading national voices on rural housing, demand has increased by 61 per cent in rural areas like Shropshire since the Covid pandemic.
“But crucially, 36 per cent more affordable homes are built in urban areas, meaning that supply in rural areas is continuously lagging behind demand.
“The key theme of this year’s Rural Housing Week has been levelling up – encouraging the Government to stimulate more affordable housing programmes in rural areas.
“We have been pleased to move tenants into a number of new schemes in Nesscliffe and Preston-upon-the-Weald Moors in Telford recently, but we are acutely aware that more affordable housing is desperately needed in Shropshire.
“At a time of such economic uncertainty and concern, campaigns like Rural Housing Week are vital to ensure the needs of our rural communities are not forgotten.”
Launching Rural Housing Week, Shaughan Dolan, of the National Housing Federation, said: “While levelling up has focused primarily on the ‘red wall’, the challenges of poor infrastructure, poverty and adequate housing can be even greater in rural areas.
“That’s why the theme for Rural Housing Week 2022 is ‘levelling up rural communities’.
“Levelling up must mean reducing regional inequality, investing in skills and education and modernising our infrastructure, but that mission is impossible without good quality homes in places where people want to live.”
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