Affordable Housing
Ashford Borough Council works in partnership
with a number of Housing Association partners to help meet
the need for affordable homes in the borough.
Affordable Housing is provided for people who are unable to
access housing in the private housing market. The types of
properties and tenure options are described below:
Homes Available for Rent
These include existing Council or Housing
Association properties as well as new Housing Association
provision. Affordable homes for rent are made available through
Kent Homechoice - Choice Based Lettings; this
scheme allows applicants to ‘bid’ for available property of their
own choice, based on their housing need.
New Build Discounted Rent is a scheme for
key
workers only. The scheme offers key workers the opportunity to
rent a new home, with the rents normally 20% less than
ordinary market rents for homes of similar size and specification
in the surrounding areas.
Homes Available for Shared Ownership
(HomeBuy)
HomeBuy is a Government initiative to enable social tenants,
keyworkers and other first time buyers to buy a share of a home and
get a first on the housing ladder. For more information see
our HomeBuy webpage.
Homes Available for Low Cost Home Ownership
These properties are sold at 70 per
cent of open market value where the remaining 30% is held in
the ownership of the developer. There is no rent payable on the
unowned share. There are a small number of properties occasionally
available through re-sale. For further details please
contact us on 01233 330687.
The council endeavours to assist key workers
to obtain housing in the area and have developed a policy to assist
them.
Affordable Rural Local Needs Housing
Affordable rural local needs housing is housing, provided by a
Registered Providers of Social Housing (RPSH) on land where
the only type of development permissible is affordable local needs
housing. These homes enable local people to remain in the village
where they live or work and not be forced to move away because of
high house prices and high rents.
Following widespread consultation, we have
produced guidance for individuals and organisations involved in the
provision of affordable rural local needs housing in rural
locations. It explains how the scheme operates and helps to develop
good practice.
Section 2 of the Affordable Rural Local Needs Housing Guidance
Notes have been amended and the local housing needs survey has been
reviewed and revised.
Kent Housing Group and the Kent Rural Board have produced a
protocol for delivering affordable local needs housing in rural
Kent. The Protocol provides guidance to all the
partners involved in developing small local needs housing
schemes.
For more information email our housing
team.
This webpage was updated on
6/9/2011