Renewed support for direct housing provision by local authorities, noted in Chapter 12, appeared to be gaining momentum in policy and academic circles in the early years of this century (Monk and Ni Luanaigh, 2006). In the rural context, having a wider variety of mechanisms available is valuable, not just an attempt to lever a higher rate of non-market housing into communities, but also to provide alternative ways of overcoming the inherent difficulties of developing affordable housing in such localities. Despite post-1990s’ policy exhorting a range of social rented and intermediate options in developments (for example, DCLG, 2006a), such intermediate housing products seemed to have very limited presence in smaller settlements (Hoggart and Henderson, 2005). Furthermore, a narrow focus on home ownership in national policies scarcely extended viable housing options for people on lower incomes in rural localities. Monk et al (2006) used the notion of ‘housing staircases’ to highlight how the lack of available properties at lower prices in many rural communities caused affordability problems for households on lower incomes. Also falling prices do not necessarily ease affordability problems. The following section considers the issue of housing affordability and the net need for low-cost housing in order to provide a context for the discussion on the role of social rented accommodation in rural localities.

In 2007, England's Commission for Rural Communities (CRC, 2007a) calculated the affordability of market housing in the smallest settlements in terms of the ratio between household incomes and house prices (Table 14.1). Wilcox (2007), however, has pointed out that it is not sufficient to look at house prices alone as a measure of affordability and that analysis of this issue needs to consider the capacity of households to pay market rents. This conclusion chimes with the findings of Bramley and Watkins (2009) in relation to the relative affordability of private rents in many rural localities, and their call to address not only the supply of homes for sale, but also the supply of homes for rent from a mix of landlords.

Scotland and England have the benefit of calculations by Glen Bramley and others on the level of net needs for affordable housing in these countries.