Affordable housing delivery

While the council does not own, manage or build housing,  we do work with partners to make sure new affordable homes are built in Elmbridge, to help meet the needs of local people who cannot afford to rent or buy in the private market.

Building affordable homes in Elmbridge

Local housing associations build new homes and private developers contribute as well, so we try to work closely with both for the benefit of the local community, providing homes for those who need them most.

We want to do more to make sure extra affordable homes are built. In February 2018 the council decided to set up a housing company to build more of the types of homes that local people really need.  

The council also encourages building of different types of affordable housing to meet a variety of needs, including:

• rented homes for eligible people on our Housing Register
• affordable homes (shared ownership and shared equity homes) for households who cannot buy without help
• supported housing that helps vulnerable people stay in the community and live independently.            

Increasing affordable homes in Elmbridge

We can get more affordable homes in Elmbridge through:

• housing associations building on, or re-developing, land they already own or buy
• housing associations buying property on the open market and renting it out as affordable housing
• using our local policy to get financial contributions from developers, that we then use for affordable housing.

Affordable homes policy

Our Core Strategy (July 2011) is a key document setting a target for 1,150 affordable homes between 2011 and 2026 (on average 76 homes every year), but more are now needed:

Policy CS21: Affordable Housing sets out our planning policy for affordable housing delivery, with further detailed guidance on this in the Development contributions supplementary planning document:

Number of affordable homes

598 affordable homes were delivered in the borough between April 2011 and March 2019, of which 118 were delivered in the last year. This is an average of 75 homes per year.

The research carried out on behalf of the council shows that 332 affordable homes may be needed every year up to 2035.  

Eligibility for affordable housing

General needs rented housing is for people eligible to join the council's Housing Register. It is let through Search Moves, with priority given to households with a local connection to Elmbridge. See apply for social housing for more information. 

For more information on other affordable housing options, see home ownership schemes.