Affordable Housing Need Grows
Sunday, November 16th, 2008
Beaminster Cllr Caroline Payne and Sue Farrant call for more affordable housing in rural areas
A roof over one’s head is a basic need. Sadly, all too many people in West Dorset simply can’t take it for granted.
Fact: In the year to March 2008, 61 households were accepted by West Dorset District Council as being homeless and in priority need. Another 61 homeless households were put onto the housing list but for one reason or another are not priority cases and are unlikely to be housed by the Council.
Fact: Across the six Dorset District Councils, 140 households were judged to be homeless and in priority need in the year ending 31 March 2008.
Fact: At the end of March this year, a total of 125 Dorset households were living in temporary accommodation (including bed and breakfast).
These figures don’t include all the people who live in flats, bed sits and houses that are overcrowded, too expensive to heat or in bad condition. As the credit crunch bites harder more and more people will lose their homes because they can’t keep up with rent and mortgage payments. The waiting lists will grow and so will human misery.
Rural Communities At Risk
The situation in rural Dorset is even worse than in the towns. Local people on middle or low incomes just can’t afford to live locally. If workers and families are forced to move to cheaper areas, the remaining local services and businesses will close. The County and District Councils are not moving quickly enough.
Matthew Taylor, Liberal Democrat M.P. for Truro and St Austell, was asked by the government to find a way forward. In July this year his report Living, Working Countryside: The Taylor Review of Rural Economy and Affordable Housing was warmly welcomed. The CPRE and National Housing Federation even published a pamphlet Save Rural England: Build Affordable Homes, calling on the government to accept Matthew Taylor’s report and draw up an action plan.
Is your family affected?
Help us put pressure on the Council and government to build more homes for Dorset people on low incomes. If you or your family have been affected, tell us your story. Contact us by writing to Sue Farrant, West Dorset Lib Dems, FREEPOST, Bridport, DT6 4SU or e-mail sue.farrant@west-dorset-libdems.org.uk.
