Theme 1
Affordability and security
Affordability of rent
The Group’s weekly average rent is significantly below that of the Local Housing Allowance (LHA) and private market rents for the local authority areas in which we operate. Our rents are, on average, 70 percent of LHA and 59 percent of private market rents. Appendix 2 provides figures for the average Longhurst Group rent in each local authority area covered, along with the rent as a percentage of both LHA and private market rates.
Number of existing and new homes allocated to specified tenure types
The Group built 679 new homes in the year ending 31 March 2022, with 78.8 percent of these being affordable rent or low-cost home ownership properties. Within the 72 homes categorised as intermediate rent, we provided 56 Rent to Homebuy units.
Tenure type of existing homes
Tenure type of new homes
Reducing the effect of fuel poverty for our customers
Our standard house types have been reviewed to ensure they’re Future Homes ready. One of the main design changes has been the creation of space for a hot water cylinder within the footprint of the property. For a number of years we’ve installed combi gas fired boilers which don’t require hot water storage. All forms of air or ground source renewable heating and hot water require a cylinder and this is why we’ve changed the design. We’ve also reviewed the Employer’s Requirements to ensure the heating flow and return pipework is a minimum bore of 15mm. Again this is a minimum requirement for renewable heating systems. Currently, we’re installing ground source heating in 191 properties across two of our schemes, California Road and Toot Lane. A number of our schemes have air source heating. We’ll monitor all of these properties to gain vital information about their efficiency and how suitable they are for our customers. We’re continuing to work to define our house type product and specification for the schemes we have full design responsibility for. The construction industry is continuing to review the impact of the recent Building Regulations changes, and changes to the calculation of SAP/EPC ratings as we move from gas to renewable heating. We aim to maintain a minimum B rating moving forward and to ensure that any new stock will achieve an A rating with minimal changes in the future. We’re still working through the detail of these changes and what that means in terms of design, specification of product and cost. The Group has applied to the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund programme to improve 581 existing homes. This grant funding will help reduce carbon emissions and running costs for our customers.