Tenant Strategy Glossary

This glossary is intended as a skeleton for the seven districts in the Cambridge housing sub-region to use in their respective tenancy strategies. The glossary aims to support public access and understanding of the issues discussed in policies and strategies. Legal terms have been avoided wherever possible to help understanding, however the “sense” of the legal phrases has been kept.

Sources are provided to enable the reader to go direct to the source if necessary, enabling access to the more technical definitions if needed.

Tenancy law is a complex area, this note does not in any way constitute legal advice and must not be used as such.

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A

Affordability

The terms ‘affordability’ and ‘affordable housing’ have different meanings.

• ‘Affordability’ is a measure of whether housing may be afforded by certain groups of households
• ‘Affordable housing’ refers to particular products outside the main housing market. [1]

Affordable housing

Affordable housing includes social rented, affordable rented and intermediate housing, provided to eligible households whose needs are not met by the market. Affordable housing should:

• Meet the needs of eligible households including availability at a cost low enough for them to afford, determined with regard to local incomes and local house prices.
• Include provision for the home to remain at an affordable price for future eligible households or, if these restrictions are lifted, for the subsidy to be recycled for alternative affordable housing provision. [2]

References

[1] - “PPS3: Housing” found on the GOV.UK website

[2] - Larner, Pipe, Tucker; “The practical implications of tenure reform” Chartered Institute of Housing; Coventry; January 2012

[3] - “Allocation of accommodation: guidance for local housing authorities in England: Consultation”; Department for Communities and Local Government; London; January 2012