Crisis is rural housing: Rogerson call for urgent action
Responding to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation report Homes for Rural Communities, released today, Liberal Democrat Housing spokesperson Dan Rogerson said:
"This report confirms what Liberal Democrats have been saying for some time. In rural areas, house building is actually falling.
The shortage of housing supply is leading to massive increases in rural house prices, which is potentially disastrous for rural communities.
In Cornwall, the cost of the average house has increased 268% in the last ten years, while the average wage has risen just 24% percent in the same period, from £17k to £21k.
The report recommends that proceeds from any ongoing Right to Buy sales should be available to councils to fund replacement homes. In fact, of the £5.5bn received from sale council properties last year, just £3.9bn was reinvested in affordable housing.
It is vital that the Government takes note and acts now to address crisis in rural housing."
Notes for Editors
1. Dan Rogerson is MP for North Cornwall, and Housing Spokesperson for the Liberal Democrats.
2. More families priced out of rural areas, says JRF report, 26 April 2006: http://www.jrf.org.uk/pressroom/releases/260406.asp
