Affordable housing guide

We recognise the need to provide choices to those who have been pushed out of the private market. From those requiring social rented homes to those aspiring to own their own home. Developments should provide a mix of housing that contributes to meeting a wide range of housing needs. These include:

1. Social rented housing

This is owned by local authorities and registered providers, for which guideline target rents are determined through the national rent regime.

2. Affordable rented housing

This is let by Local Authorities and Registered Providers of social housing to households who are eligible for social rented housing. Affordable Rents are expected to be set in line with the council’s Affordable Rents Policy at Annex 11 to the Greater Cambridge Housing Strategy.
South Cambridgeshire District Council (excluding City fringe sites) - the rent for Affordable Rent housing (inclusive of eligible property related service charges) should not exceed 70% of gross median market rent for that size of property, location type and service provision, or the current Local Housing Allowance rate, whichever is the lower.

3. Intermediate housing

• Intermediate rent is a rental model that offers homes below the market rate. It is designed to help those households who can not afford to buy or rent on the open market but who may not be eligible for affordable or social rent.
• Shared ownership enables households to buy a share in their home (usually between 10% and 75% of the home’s value). A subsidised rent is payable on the remaining share. Stair-casing can occur in 1% increments. 
• Fixed equity properties are sold at a fixed equity (generally 75%) with no rent payable on the remaining share held by the Registered Provider.
• Rent to buy properties are rented for around 20% less than the market rent values, and have the option to buy shares in the property in the future in the same way as shared ownership.
• First Homes is a new model of affordable home ownership for first-time buyers that offer a specific form of discount usually around 30% discount - see our First Home's Interim Position Statement for more details. Provisions are made to keep this discount in perpetuity.
• Discounted Market is sold at a discount of at least 20% below local market value. Provisions are made to keep the discount in perpetuity.

If purchasing on the open market or privately renting is not affordable, the only option available for many is to seek affordable housing. As of January 2024, there are over 2,019 people registered on the Councils Housing Register in need of an affordable home.

Affordability is a huge issue for many households looking for a home in South Cambridgeshire. Affordability is figured out using affordability ratios. You can find an affordability ratio by dividing a house price by the yearly net household income. The latest information on affordability in South Cambridgeshire can be found in the Cambridgeshire and Peterborough Housing Bulletin.

The majority of affordable homes in South Cambridgeshire are provided by and managed by Registered Providers. A Registered Provider is the term used for all social housing providers who manage affordable housing stock. Homes England, as regulator, maintains a statutory register of all social housing providers. We also maintain a list of registered providers in South Cambridgeshire. 

As of January 2024 we currently own and manage 5,432 affordable or social rented homes, 128 leasehold flats, 282 equity share properties (over 60's) and 120 Shared Ownership properties (94 New Build and 26 Old Style Leases).

We have our own New Build team bringing forward affordable housing in the District and support Registered Providers to bring forward new affordable housing in the District.

We encourage developers who are providing affordable housing to have a Registered Provider on board as soon as possible and advise that planning permission will not be granted until one has been allocated.

We are happy to have discussions prior to planning approval to discuss the scheme type, size and tenure of the affordable housing units. For more information please contact us: Strategic.Housing@scambs.gov.uk

Those that are renting and are unable to meet their rent in full, may be able to claim Universal Credit to help.

If you are renting privately, the amount of housing benefit you can get from Universal Credit is calculated using the Local Housing Allowance (LHA). It's based on bedroom entitlement, rather than the cost of the actual rent. 

Anyone living in social housing will get their full rent as part of their Universal Credit payment. This is reduced by 14% if the household as one spare bedroom, and 25% for 2 or more spare bedrooms. This is known as Removal of the Spare Room Subsidy.

LHA rates are set in line with the bottom 30% of average market rents within a Broad Market Rental Area (BRMA). 

South Cambridgeshire is set within 3 Broad Market Rental Areas:

• Cambridge
• Huntingdon
• Stevenage and North Herts

Most homes in South Cambridgeshire are in the Cambridge BRMA.  

For most people there is a cap on the total amount of benefits they can claim, which includes Universal credit. You can find out if the benefits cap affects you, and if so what that cap is, using the government benefits cap calculator. This does not apply to anyone over the state pension age (65). 

Some of the main benefits included in the cap, comprise child benefit, housing benefit, incapacity benefit, income support and jobseekers allowance (although this is not an exhaustive list).

Allocation of rented affordable housing

The provision and allocation of rented affordable housing is done through Home-Link. Applicants must register on Home-Link to bid on affordable properties coming forward in the District.

Home-Link

Home-Link is the choice based lettings scheme for all council and housing association homes in Cambridgeshire and West Suffolk.

Properties that are available to rent are advertised each week on the Home-Link website and applicants bid for properties that they are interested in. Bids can only be made on properties that the applicant is eligible for, such as relevant property size.

To participate in Home-Link, applicants need to have a local connection to South Cambridgeshire.

Allocations are let in accordance with the Council’s Lettings Policy. All applicants will be assessed to determine their eligibility to be placed on the housing register. This ensures homes are let to those with the greatest need. It also ensures that we meet the legal obligations as set out in the Housing Act 1996.

Once an applicant has been assessed they will be placed in one of the following banding categories. This is dependent on their housing need:

• Band A – Urgent Housing Need
• Band B – High Housing Need
• Band C – Medium Housing Need
• Band D – Low Housing Need

Properties are allocated to bidders in the highest banding who have been waiting the longest.

On sites where properties have a local connection requirement, the allocation priority is given to those who live, work, or those who have family connections to the village. In these situations, the banding priority is secondary to local village connection. 

Applicants who apply on Home-link will have to prove they're eligible for the affordable rented housing.

All Registered Providers will be required to sign up to Home Link and sign a Service Level Agreement. Fore more information on this, please contact the Housing Strategy Team. 

Allocation of intermediate properties 

Registered Providers are responsible for allocation intermediate properties. They are also responsible for checking that the applicant is eligible. For Shared Ownership units:

• your household income is £80,000 a year or less (£90,000 a year or less in London)
• you cannot afford all of the deposit and mortgage payments for a home that meets your needs

One of the following must also be true:

• you’re a first-time buyer
• you used to own a home but cannot afford to buy one now
• you’re forming a new household - for example, after a relationship breakdown
• you’re an existing shared owner, and you want to move
• you own a home and want to move but cannot afford a new home that meets your needs

For some properties that require a local connection you will also have to prove to the Registered Provider that you live in, work in, or have a connection to the area where you want to buy the home.

To find a Registered Provider in South Cambridgeshire who is providing this type of housing you can search the Governments Shared Ownership Scheme Service.

As well as the options available for intermediate housing, there are various Government initiatives that can also help households into home ownership. These are mainly supported by the Help to Buy Agents and include equity loans and Help to Buy ISAs.

For more information, visit the Help to Buy website.

Help to Buy - Equity Loans

Through the Equity Loan scheme, the Government will lend up to 20% of the cost of a new home. Only a 5% deposit and a 75% mortgage is required.

No loan fees are charged on the 20% loan for the first 5 years of owning the property. The loan is paid back either at the end of the mortgage term, or when the property is sold.

The scheme is open to both first-time buyers and existing home owners, with no maximum household income to qualify. 

Applicants do not need to be registered with Help to Buy. But they will need to receive ‘Authority to Proceed’ by the Help to Buy Agents. 

Properties are only available under this scheme through participating registered builders.

Help to Buy - ISAs

Help to Buy ISAs are closed to new accounts, but accounts that are already open can continue saving until November 2029.

This scheme offers first-time buyers the opportunity to save into a Help to Buy ISA. The Government will then boost their savings by 25%. This means that if £200 is saved, the top-up eligible for receipt is £50.

The most that each first time buyer (not household) can receive from the Government bonus is £3,000. This means that two savers from one household could receive up to £6,000.

Each first-time buyer can save up to £200 per month and the minimum Government bonus is £400, meaning that at least £1,600 would need to be saved before a bonus could be claimed. This bonus must be claimed by 1 December 2030

To receive the maximum bonus of £3,000 a total of £12,000 needs to be saved.

Further details can be found on the Help to Buy website.

The following ladder demonstrates the weekly housing costs for the different housing products in South Cambridgeshire. 

Average gross earnings for those on a lower quartile income are £22,040. With those on a median income of £34,580 (as of September 2020). As a rough guide based on housing affordability ratios, those on a lower quartile income would be able to afford all housing types up to those highlighted green. Those on a median income would be able to afford all housing types up to those highlighted yellow.

Key:

• Registered Provider (RP) affordable rent is set at up to 80% of private rents capped at LHA rates
• Low cost social rent is approximately 60% of market rate
• Lower quartile is the least expensive 25% of homes
• Homebuy is shared ownership based on owning a 40% share