Following the request by Lawrence Morgan, leader of our House the Homeless campaign team at the Accountability Assembly (centre in picture), here’s an action you can take to help create “genuinely” affordable homes in MK today.
We urge you to email a comment to MK Council’s Affordable Housing consultation by this Friday 27th April.
Below is our recommended comment, but please use your own words as you wish…
To: development.plans@milton-keynes.gov.uk
Subject line: Affordable Housing SPD
Email Body:
Greetings Council officer, I am writing today after attending the Citizens:mk Accountability Assembly and being made aware of your current consultation. These are the amendments I feel you should make:
Units under affordable housing rent model or LHA (whichever is lower) to be increased by a further 10% to what is already in the SPD. Social rent increased by another 5% in the document. With additional points:
- Need for more diverse variety of housing tenure (include community-led housing models, CLTs,, co-op housing, coliving, cohousing etc) and include this into your affordable housing percentage to create “genuinely affordable” housing.
- Priority of land allocation to be made available for community-led housing groups & self-build in support of Plan:MK section 7.43 (policy HN5).
I have sent in my response, including your recommendations to a degree!
I agree with this proposal, although I sent my own version, which included most of the above points and a few additional ones. In particular I have highlighted the need to create a Community Land Trust in Mikton Keynes which will protect the status of affordable housing and prevent it being sold under the Right to Buy.