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Affordable housing

Ensuring that people in West Northamptonshire have the housing they need is one of our key strategic priorities. Helping to deliver affordable homes to meet the needs of the growing population is one of the key ways in which we seek to achieve this.

Several thousand people apply to rent a council or housing association home in West Northamptonshire every year. Unfortunately, very few properties become available.

For most people, it is often better and far quicker to find a home to rent from a private landlord. We can help you to rent a home in the private sector.

If you are working, then you may also be able to get help to buy your own home.

Affordable housing in your area

Please select your local area on the Housing Register page.

Affordable rent

Affordable rent is set in accordance with the Government’s rent policy for Social Rent or Affordable Rent or is at least 20% below local market rents. The landlord is a registered provider, except where it is included as part of a Build to Rent scheme. It includes provisions to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households, or for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision.

Affordable home ownership

The government created the Help to Buy scheme to help working people take their first steps onto the housing ladder.

Whether you are looking to get onto the housing ladder or move up it, there are a number of Help to Buy products designed to make buying a home more affordable.

Please note that not all Help to Buy products are considered to be affordable for planning purposes.

Our Affordable Housing Officer works pro-actively with housing Associations, housing developers, the Home and Communities Agency, and local communities to help deliver affordable housing which will meet identified needs.

Shared ownership

You can buy a home through the shared ownership scheme if you cannot afford all of the deposit and mortgage payments for a home that meets your needs. You buy a share of the property and pay rent to a landlord on the rest.

The share that you can buy is usually between 25% and 75%. You can however buy a 10% share on some homes. You can take out a mortgage to buy your share or pay for it with savings, you will still need a deposit, usually between 5% and 10% of the share you are buying.

You can buy a number of homes through shared ownership:

  • a new build home
  • an existing home through a shared ownership resale scheme
  • a home that meets your specific needs, if you have a long-term disability - for example a ground floor flat.

Discounted market sale

A discounted market sale is a type of affordable housing which is intended as low-cost home ownership for those who cannot afford to buy a property in the open market.

Housing Need

In recent years we have undertaken Housing Needs Surveys at the parish level on a rolling programme. It now focuses on those parishes where there is known development activity or where the evidence would help to support neighbourhood planning. Some of the surveys undertaken in the rolling programme are now more than three years old and would not be considered current for planning purposes. However, they are still held on the website as they provide a starting point for understanding housing need – they would need updating if they are to be used for a planning application or plan making. Recent surveys capture information on housing need of all types, not just affordable housing need.

The affordable housing requirement for the period for the period up to 2029 is set out in the West Northamptonshire Joint Core Strategy WNJCS (2014). Further details on how the policies set out in the WNJCS are implemented are set out in the Joint Core Strategy.

Last updated 19 December 2023