FAQs Frequently Asked Questions…

The world of Community Led housing can be confusing. Here, we’ve put together some of the most common queries we get asked. If you can’t find the answer to your question, please do get in touch – we’ll be happy to help.

WHAT IS AFFORDABLE HOUSING?: The Government considers housing affordable when it is social rented, affordable rented or intermediate housing (part rent/part own) as seen in shared ownership or rent-to-buy models.

For the full Government definition of affordable housing, please click here.
WHAT DO WE MEAN BY ‘COMMUNITY’?: A community is usually considered a group within a defined geographic area sharing basic infrastructure (roads, sewage, etc) and resources (public transport, waste collection, etc). However a community can also be a group supporting or working for a common interest or goal (a youth sports club, a climate action working group, a disability-led senior centre, for instance).

Your community may be your neighbours, your parish, your school, or simply a group of people who share a passion, activity or circumstance and are aiming towards the same vision. Or a community can be several of these things at once.
WHY DOES DEVON HAVE HOUSING REGISTER?: Every Council in England holds a register of those households experiencing tenure insecurity, or are currently homeless, or are overcrowded in their situations. Often these households bid on Devon Home Choice (https://www.devonhomechoice.com/my-cbl/property-search) as weekly listings come through.
WHAT ARE EXCEPTION SITES?: In order to open a site that is an ‘exception’ to a village’s (literally: ruled-in) development boundary– there has to be a rationale for its use that benefits the community. To expand beyond a village/town boundary, an exception site will most often be greenfield. In rural communities it is often the generosity of a local landowner who facilitates the transfer of a site at low cost, helping to make the entire development feasible for non-commercial groups to increase affordable housing stock.

For a Government definition of a Rural Exception Site, please click here.

Another provision on exception site homes for affordable rent or shared ownership is a Section 106 Allocation, which includes a local connection criteria in terms of how the properties are allocated. This legal agreement keeps the new homes affordable in perpetuity; and so long as a site is not too difficult to develop, councils are happy to permit these exceptions for housing people on their Registers.
WHAT IS A SELF-BUILD REGISTER?: Since 2016, Councils have held a Self-Build Register to capture those developers and householders on their Housing Register with low-income, wishing or willing to build their own homes. Exception sites can be used for this kind of development; and when a Community Led Housing project allocates locally connected people to fill their new homes, two goals are achieved in one scheme.
WHAT IS CROSS-SUBSIDY IN DEVELOPMENTS…?: To help keep house deposits low and/or rental units in place for local people, a small number of market homes are developed alongside the majority affordable homes. They serve as a viability guarantee on the whole cost of the scheme and help to subsidise any public grants and assistance from Homes England/local authorities (pre-development funds) and development/ mortgage finance (obtainable in later stages of build).