Housing Strategy

Affordable Housing

Our Housing Service aims to maximise the supply of affordable housing as much as possible, and works with multiple partners in order to do so. We will actively pursue opportunities to increase our stock of affordable council housing through new builds and purchases, and will support new affordable housing for sale and rent with our housing association partners.

A range of tenures/housing products fall within the definition of affordable housing, these include:

• Affordable housing for rent, such as social rented and other rented housing
• Intermediate affordable housing, such as shared ownership and other forms of housing offered at a discount, for example First Homes.

For some households, for example, newly forming households needing help to enter the housing market, ownership based affordable housing tenures are likely to be an appropriate solution. However, for those with lower household incomes, there is an essential need for affordable rented housing. Our Local Plan for 2024-2037 sets a headline target of 35% of all dwellings to be defined as affordable housing to meet the current national definition of affordable housing. In Central Dartford, a location which is an overriding priority for growth, the target of 20% applies due to factors such as competing/existing suitable land uses.

The Local Plan policy for the urban area requires that affordable housing should be sought at developments where 15 or more units are proposed. Following national policy, affordable housing in more rural areas including the Green Belt or south of the A2 will be sought at developments where 10 or more units are proposed. Affordable housing will also be provided on sites which are over half a hectare in size.

For the year 2022/23, Dartford delivered 738 additional residential dwellings. Of those, 106 were provided as affordable homes.

Housing Development

In the Local Plan, the Council is keen to deliver a wide range of residential development, particularly on larger sites. Genuine variety in the type of new accommodation is a requirement of the borough’s development strategy. Dartford’s policy framework includes several measures for the provision of high quality dwellings of sufficient size and type, appropriate to local needs. Developments should also aim to provide a good mix of houses and flats for families and individuals.  The majority of dwellings in a new development should feature two or more bedrooms.

Certain types of specialist accommodation should also be considered and provided. This includes retirement living schemes, age restricted dwellings and extra care housing. The provision of older persons and nursing/residential care home spaces is supported within larger developments. Standalone specialist housing developments may also be built where there is need for the type and mix of accommodation proposed, and they are sustainably located. The Dartford and Ebbsfleet Housing Needs Assessment 2019 indicated a need for nearly 600 units of specialist accommodation and an additional 359 Registered Care spaces in nursing and residential care homes over the period April 2019 to March 2036.

The provision of accessible and adaptable dwellings within new developments is expected to create homes which are step free and therefore accessible to most people. Some dwellings in large developments should also be provided which meet wheelchair user standards. Provision of more accessible and adaptable dwellings will particularly benefit those with reduced mobility and enable more residents to stay in their homes for longer as their needs change.

The Government is also promoting self-build and custom-build dwellings as part of providing a greater volume, mix and range of new housing products. The Council is required to keep a Self-Build register which lists those who are seeking plots for self-build housing in the borough. This has been divided into two parts, with those in part 1 having an identified local connection to Dartford and all other applicants joining part 2.

Dartford & Ebbsfleet Housing Needs Assessment

The Dartford & Ebbsfleet Housing Needs Assessment forms part of the evidence base for the Local Plan. It was produced by independent consultants HDH Planning & Development Ltd in 2019 to provide the Council with an assessment of the needs for different sizes, types and tenures of residential development. An updated version has since been produced in 2021.

Some of the key areas the assessment examines includes:

• The geographic context in which the local housing market operates
• The derivation of housing need in Dartford
• The cost of housing in Dartford
• The housing requirement of particular groups of the population

The assessment also identifies the annual affordable housing need in Dartford, which is 382 affordable homes per year.

The National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) expects strategic policy-making authorities to follow the standard method for assessing local housing need. The standard method uses a formula to identify the minimum number of homes expected to be planned for. The NPPF also expect an assessment of affordable need to be carried out, as well as to gain a comprehensive understanding of the needs of groups with specific housing requirements.

Right to Buy

The Right to Buy scheme allows eligible council tenants to buy their home at a price lower than the full market value. The scheme applies to tenants who hold secure tenancies and the discount is based on a number of factors, including the type of property (a flat or house), the value of the home and how long someone has been a tenant.

Tenants can currently apply to buy their home at a discount if they meet the following eligibility criteria:

• It is their only or main home
• It is self-contained
• They are a secure tenant
• They have spent at least 3 years as a council tenant in the borough.

It should be noted that Right to Buy legislation may change.