Rural Housing 5-star plan

The Rural Housing 5-star plan was developed in 2017 through consultation with housing associations, and supports and challenges the sector to build more homes and support communities. We’re working in partnership with housing associations and rural stakeholders to deliver the ambitions of plan.

The plan is supported by the National Housing Federation and the Rural Housing Alliance, who along with other architects of the plan have a strategic commitment to encourage the delivery of new affordable homes in rural communities.

The plan helps to highlight the contribution rural housing associations make, and strengthens the case for more rural housing, We’d like all rural members to support the plan by emailing us.  

It's clear that the plan is making a difference, with the target of increasing rural delivery by 6% being met in 2017/18. The priority is to ensure that the plan maintains this momentum to help rural housing associations go from strength to strength. 

Join our steering group or be a champion 

We relaunched the plan during Rural Housing Week 2019 to celebrate its impact and to encourage the sector to do even more to solve the rural housing crisis.

We're therefore setting up a 5-star plan steering group, made up of rural members from across the country, to ensure that the plan continues to make a difference. We're also asking members who have signed up to the plan to become rural champions to help us further promote the work of rural housing associations. 

The 5-star plan pledges

Housing associations will:

• work with and for rural communities, in accordance with the Rural Alliance pledge, which commits housing associations to work with local people in order to ensure high quality new and existing homes that benefit the whole community
• increase the current level of housing supply in rural communities by 6% per year
• bid for at least 10% of Homes England investment to deliver new homes in rural areas
• ensure that homes delivered benefit the local economy, including the farming and food economy
• meet the needs of rural communities and offer rural homes across the range of tenures including affordable, social and market rent, affordable home ownership, self-build and market sale to meet the needs of local communities.

For organisations and boards wishing to learn more, we’ve produced a brief document about the 5-star plan and each of its points.