Housing Strategy
The Housing Strategy team's main function is to develop and implement the DDC Housing Strategy across all housing tenures throughout Daventry District. Working closely with Housing Options and Planning Policy, the team helps to produce the plans that shape the future development and use of land within the District; define how much development is needed and where it should take place in order to meet present and future local needs and growth expectations.
Due to the extensive use of terminology within the Housing and Planning systems, a 'Jargon Buster' has been prepared to help explain many of the acronyms and policies referred to within this section.
The Need for a Housing Strategy
What is it?
The Housing Strategy is an overarching document that sets out the Council's priorities and objectives for housing over a given timescale, usually 3-5 years. A successful strategy should address the needs and aspirations of all sections of the community taking account of all housing tenures both public and private and develop achievable and measurable targets and action plans.
Why produce one?
The Government made the development of Local Housing Strategies a statutory (legal) duty in 2003, through the introduction of the Local Government Act.
Daventry District Council's Housing Strategy establishes the Council's priorities and ambitions for all housing types, including owner occupied, private rented and social rented over the next 3 years in the district.
The Context
The DDC Housing Strategy relates to local, sub-regional, regional, and national policies. These include:
The Strategy
Consultation performed by the Housing Strategy Team, through detailed surveys, various Open Day events and workshops resulted in the following strategic priorities being identified.
- Develop Sustainable High Quality Affordable and Open Market Housing throughout the district.
- Ensure that all Affordable Housing Developments are Need Led.
- Promote Housing for Special Needs Groups Where Need is Identified
- Prioritise Homeless Prevention Initiatives
- Improve the Housing and Customer Service
- Improve the Condition of the Housing Stock Across all Tenures
From these headline priorities, action points with attributable responsibilities, targets and timeframes were identified. These are discussed further within the DDC Housing Strategy 2007-10, which is available by clicking the link to download.
Affordable Housing
The Government has defined affordable housing within Planning Policy Statement 3: Housing (November 2006) as:
"Affordable housing includes social rented and intermediate housing, provided to specified eligible households whose needs are not met by the market. Affordable housing should:
-
Meet the needs of eligible households including availability at a cost low enough for them to afford, determined with regard to local incomes and local house prices.
-
Include provision for the home to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households or, if these restrictions are lifted, for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision'.
Social rented housing
is:
'Rented housing owned and managed by local authorities and registered social landlords, for which guideline target rents are determined through the national rent regime. The proposals set out in the Three Year Review of Rent Restructuring (July 2004) were implemented as policy in April 2006. It may also include rented housing owned or managed by other persons and provided under equivalent rental arrangements to the above, as agreed with the local authority or with the Housing Corporation as a condition of grant.'
Intermediate affordable housing
is:
'Housing at prices and rents above those of social rent, but below market price or rents, and which meet the criteria set out above. These can include shared equity products (e.g. HomeBuy), other low cost homes for sale and intermediate rent."
The definition does not exclude homes provided by private sector bodies or provided without grant funding. Where such homes meet the definition above, they may be considered, for planning purposes, as affordable housing. Whereas, those homes that do not meet the definition, for example, 'low cost market' housing, may not be considered, for planning purposes, as affordable housing.
Housing Policy Statement.
The terms 'affordability' and 'affordable housing' have different meanings. 'Affordability' is a measure of whether housing may be afforded by certain groups of households. 'Affordable housing' refers to particular products outside the main housing market.
To further complement this definition, the Housing Strategy Team developed a further definition for affordable housing as: "housing that meets the needs of households who cannot afford to rent or buy* on the open housing market and includes social rented, shared ownership and low cost home ownership tenures."
To be defined as affordable, Daventry District Council recommends that rents and or mortgage costs on all affordable developments should not exceed one third of the average net household income of the district, inclusive of all service charges and management costs.
* Assuming mortgage lending criteria of 3.5 times household income.
Details of this information is available from the Housing Strategy Team, contact details below.
A National and Local Issue
Increasing house price inflation has outstripped growth in average household incomes across the UK, meaning it is becoming increasingly more difficult for individuals and families to enter the housing market. According to the Land Registry, average house prices within Daventry District are between 5 and 6 times the average household wage locally of approximately £35K (CACI data 2004). As the majority of mortgage lenders will only lend between 3 and 4 times an individuals salary, this price differential has made it increasingly more difficult for individuals to join the housing market.
Social Rented Housing
Daventry District Council operates a Common Housing Register whereby individuals wishing to rent a Housing Association property must register. The Common Housing Register (CHR) is an indicator of the total 'Housing Need' within the District. It does not give a total or complete picture of need, but it is a useful indicator for Daventry District Council, to ensure that the right tenure and mix of properties are developed to meet local need.
The CHR has increased dramatically in size over recent months, DDC is seeking to achieve a majority of social rented housing to be built on all new affordable housing developments. The recent West Northants Housing Market Assessment has indicated a guide of 35% of all new developments should be 'affordable housing' - 25% of which should be Social Rented.
Individuals wishing to join the CHR should download and complete the CHR forms and return them to Housing Options at the address provided on the forms.
Developing Affordable Housing in Daventry District.
The DDC Housing Strategy Team are happy to assist potential developers with the advice and information necessary in order to provide affordable housing to meet current housing needs.
Daventry District Council has established a partnership with a number of Registered Social Landlords referred to as our 'preferred mangement partners'.
The Housing Strategy Team will provide information and support to developers including:
- Common Housing Register waiting list data
- Housing Needs Data (Tenure & Mix)
- Village Design Statements
- Eco-homes Information
- Zero Carbon Homes Information
Within DDC, an Affordable Housing Officers Working Group has been established to oversee the delivery of affordable housing locally. Together with the Affordable Housing Panel which consists of Councillors, RSLs and other partners, DDC has ensured that increasing the supply of affordable housing locally remains a corporate objective.
If anyone wishes to find out more about the Affordable Housing Panel please use the contact details below.
Housing Growth in Daventry District
Between 2001 and 2021, approximately 10,800 homes will be built within Daventry District, the vast majority of these (8000) will be built within Daventry Town which will see its population rise to around the 40,000 mark.
The remainder will be provided throughout the District within the rural areas often on 'Exception Sites'.
These will be small scale in nature, developed with the full support of the local Parish Council and in villages, which have the facilities to meet basic daily needs. The size and scale of the development will be dependent upon housing needs and thus it is imperative that village surveys are undertaken to ascertain exact requirements.
In April 2006, the government granted the West Northants Development Corporation powers to make certain planning decisions on developments within the Urban Development Areas (UDA's) of Northampton, Towcester and Daventry. All housing developments within the UDA's, over the threshold of 50 units come under the jurisdiction of the WNDC. For more information please use the contact details below.
Homelessness Strategy
Responsibility for developing and monitoring the Daventry District Council's Homelessness Strategy, lies with the DDC Housing Strategy Team.
What is it?
The 2002 Homeless Act sets out the need for each Local Authority to develop a Homelessness Strategy; setting out their aims, objectives and action plans to reduce homelessness locally over the following years.
A Homelessness Strategy was adopted in July 2008, covering the period to 2013.
A review of homelessness provision across the district has recently been carried out to identify where needs are being met and where there are gaps. The findings from the review can be found by clicking here. The information obtained from the review has been used in the Homelessness Strategy to recommend new initiatives in the prevetion of homelessness and to ensure a full range of services are being provided. The Strategy is underpinned by this review.
The Strategy contains three overarching aims and objectives for people who are homeless or who may become homeless within the district:.
1 Prevent homelessness
2. Provide sufficient accommodation
3. Provide support
These aims will be achieved by:
- Publicising prevention schemes and raise awareness of homelessness
- Expanding the range of prevention schemes
- Providing more temporary accommodation to meet a broader spectrum of needs
- Providing more settled homes
- Ensuring there is sufficient and accessible support available
If anyone wishes to contact the Housing Strategy Team in connection with these issues please use the contact details below.
Monitoring the Strategies
Both the Housing Strategy and the Homelessness Strategies must be monitored to ensure that they are relevant and being kept up to date.
To this end, Monitoring Groups to oversee the progress of both Strategies have been established.
For more information concerning these strategies, please contact the Housing Strategy Team using the contact details below.
Low Cost Home Ownership
Buying a home through the HomeBuy schemes
The Government recently introduced the HomeBuy scheme, to help people get a foot upon the property ladder. This includes the new expanded Open Market HomeBuy, launched by the Government on 2nd October 2006. Like Shared Ownership, it is a scheme designed to assist those who, for whatever reason, cannot afford to purchase outright or are on lower incomes. HomeBuy is a scheme, whereby intending purchasers are offered properties at a percentage of their full value. The purchaser then acquires a mortgage on the percentage offered for sale. The Association, retains the other percentage and charges an affordable rent, proportionate to the percentage it retains ownership of.
The HomeBuy scheme, operates in Northamptonshire in two parts:
- New Build HomeBuy, where you share ownership of your home with a housing association; and
- Open Market HomeBuy, where you part-buy a property and get a loan from the Government for the rest.
The Government has also introduced the First Time Buyers Initiative as part of the HomeBuy scheme.
For many people, these schemes will provide the best chance of owning a home in the area in which they want to live and work.
Housing association and local authority tenants also have other means of buying the home they currently live in:
- Right to Acquire, for housing association tenants
- Right to Buy or Preserved Right to Buy, for tenants of council properties or those that have been transferred from a local authority to a housing association.
Within Northamptonshire, the HomeBuy scheme is administered by the government 'Zone Agent', Keyhomes East. Their role is to act as a 'One Stop Shop' for all HomeBuy products, supported by Social Housing Grant from the government, within a given area.
Applicants interested in either New Build HomeBuy or Open Market HomeBuy, should register with KeyHomes East and join the Daventry District Council Common Housing Register.
Anyone interested in 'HomeBuy' should contact Keyhomes East:
The Difference between Shared Ownership and HomeBuy?
Very similar to HomeBuy, Shared Ownership is a scheme designed to assist those who, for whatever reason, cannot afford to purchase outright or are on lower incomes. Many affordable housing developments are now being completed without funding from the government, being paid for by Housing Association. These properties are still called 'Shared Ownership' but are not, presently, subject to nominations from the Zone Agent.
Consequently, often DDC is asked to nominate individuals to these properties by the developing Housing Associations. Rather than DDC operating both a Common Housing Register and a separate Shared Ownership Housing Register, it has been decided to nominate individuals from the Common Housing Register. Those who wish to be nominated, should fill in the application form, to prove they have a housing need plus contact the relevant developing Housing Association to indicate their interest in a particular development. Rather than asking individuals to join many different housing registers, it has been decided to simplify the process and keep the ammount of registration involved to a minimum.
Some Shared Ownership developments will be advertised using alternative methods to the Zone Agent. Individuals and applicants should also check with Local Estate Agents for shared ownership availability or contact Housing Associations directly to discover what developments are proposed. Alternatively, please contact the Housing Strategy Team on the contact details below who will only be too happy to advise upon your query.
Contact details to all Housing Associations and Affordable Housing Developers currently operating within Daventry District are available by clicking the link.
Shared Equity
Shared Equity is a form of Shared Ownership favoured by some developers. It takes the form of an individual buying a percentage of a property (often 75-80%), through a mortgage but not having to pay any rent upon the borrowed residual ammount.
The developer/owner of the residual claims their percentage of the market value of the property upon the property being sold.
Question & Answers?
Can I afford HomeBuy/Shared Ownership?
There are no set figures we can give you. Much will depend on an individual's financial circumstances, the purchase price and the possible rent involved. You are advised to contact your bank, building society or financial advisor for professional advice.
Costs involved when purchasing Shared Ownership
You will be responsible for the usual costs involved in buying a house and these monies must be available to you when applying for shared ownership accommodation.
How much will I have to pay at the outset?
1. Your solicitor's legal fees. Solicitor's fees vary and it maybe useful to obtain an estimate from a few solicitors.
2. Building Society's valuation and survey fees. Some Building Societies charge a mortgage arrangement fee.
3. Your Building Society may require a deposit.
4. Land Registry and local search fees.
5. The Associations may charge a documentation fee.
6. Rent in advance will be charged on completion.
7. Stamp duty is payable on shared ownership properties where the full value exceeds the ceiling limit for stamp duty.
The above is not a comprehensive list and you are advised to discuss all details with your solicitor before making a final commitment.
Contact Details for: Key Homes East c/o BPHA Pilgrims House Horne Lane Bedford MK40 1NY 0845 456 6757 info@keyhomes-east.org.uk
Quick Links
Links to local, sub-regional and regional documents and websites that may be useful.
Partner Local/Statutory Authorities
- The Borough Council of Wellingborough
- Corby Borough Council
- East Northamptonshire Council
- Kettering Borough Council
- Northampton Borough Council
- South Northamptonshire Council
- Northamptonshire County Council
- West Northamptonshire Development Corporation
- Rugby Borough Council Online
- Harborough District Council
- Stratford-on-Avon District Council
- Government Office of the East Midlands
- East Midlands Regional Assembly
- East Midlands Development Agency
- Housing Corporation
- Department of Communities and Local Government
Statistical Information is available from
Archived Documents
Contact Information
Vinni Bassan Senior Policy Officer (Housing) 01327 302249
Elaine Ferguson Affordable Housing Officer 01327 302535
Shaun Forde Homelessnesss Strategy Officer 01327 302478
Richard Vallis Empty Homes Officer 01327 302237
Daventry District Council RSL & Developers
Preferred Management Partners
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