06 Jul 2026
As part of National Rural Housing Week, the National Housing Federation is highlighting the growing need for affordable housing across rural England and the vital role it plays in sustaining rural communities.
Affordable homes help people remain in the communities where they have grown up, enable families to stay together and support local businesses by allowing workers to live close to where they are employed. However, the housing shortage continues to have a disproportionate impact on rural areas.
The National Housing Federation says that one in 10 homes in rural England is classed as affordable, around half the proportion found in towns and cities. In villages with fewer than 3,000 residents, almost a quarter have two or fewer affordable homes, leaving many local people with few housing options.
Demand continues to grow. Rural housing waiting lists have increased from 191,092 to 228,404 households over the past three years, while just 10,878 new social rented homes were completed during the same period, enough to meet less than a third of the additional demand.
The National Housing Federation welcomes measures within the 2026–36 Social and Affordable Homes Programme that provide additional support for delivering affordable housing in settlements with fewer than 3,000 people.
However, it has also raised concerns about proposals within the National Planning Policy Framework that would remove affordable housing requirements from medium-sized developments of between 10 and 49 homes. The federation warns that such changes could have a significant impact on rural housing delivery, as Section 106 agreements accounted for more than half of all new rural affordable homes last year.
The National Housing Federation says ensuring rural communities have access to genuinely affordable homes will be essential to sustaining local economies, supporting key workers and enabling younger people to remain in the communities where they have grown up.
