The council regularly assesses and puts in place plans to meet local housing needs, including affordable housing needs.

A 2013 Strategic Housing Market Assessment for Coventry and Warwickshire analysed supply, demand, and need for housing across all tenures in the area and found a need for 268 new affordable homes per year in Warwick district. An updated assessment in September 2015 showed a small increase to 280.

To address this need, the council expects 40% of properties on large new housing developments to be affordable housing. This applies to developments of 11 or more dwellings or with a combined gross floor space of more than 1,000 square metres.

More detailed affordable housing requirements in terms of types, sizes, and tenures are fixed on a site by site basis after considering: the housing needs of the district; any site-specific issues; and, in rural areas, the locality. However, as regards tenure, based upon the Strategic Housing Market Assessment the council normally expects the affordable housing to be 60% social rented, 25% affordable rented and 15% shared ownership.

We commission much more local housing needs surveys to identify the need of individual parishes. 

Affordable rent 

In 2010 the government introduced "affordable rent" for new properties, where rents can be set at up to 80% of market rent. Because private rents in the district are extremely high the council has adopted a policy (see minute 85 2014) that "affordable rents" should be set below the maximum and should be at the mid-point between social rent and 80% of market rent wherever possible.

Preferred partner affordable housing providers

The council recognises a number of Registered Providers of Social Housing as preferred partners for the development of new affordable housing in the district and for acquiring affordable housing that is built as a requirement of planning permission (so-called "Section 106" housing). As at January 2019 the preferred partners are:

  • Bromford
  • Fortis Living (now part of Platform Housing Group)
  • Orbit
  • Stonewater
  • Warwick District Council
  • Warwickshire Rural Housing Association (for rural schemes only)
  • Waterloo (now part of Platform Housing Group)
  • WM Housing
  • WHG

As the specific contact at each organisation is liable to change, the Housing Strategy and Development Officer can provide up-to-date details on request.

The list of preferred partners is not closed, and new providers who wish to apply to join should contact the Housing Strategy and Development Officer for further details.

Policies 

Download the Affordable Housing Supplementary Planning Document 2008 for more information about affordable housing policies, although this is of limited use now as many of the policies are out of date. A new version is being prepared in 2019 and developers are encouraged to seek informal advice on the council's affordable housing requirements from the Housing Strategy and Development Officer or Planning Officers before submitting an application for planning consent.

Information about wider policies on housing can be found in the council’s Housing and Homelessness Strategy.

Contact details

Housing Strategy and Development Officer: 01926 456354

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