The UK housing crisis has a continued presence in our headlines, and rural communities are among those feeling the strain the most. These rural areas are facing a growing affordability gap, leaving many residents struggling to find suitable housing. Our Rural Housing Enabler (RHE) Ollie Brice plays a crucial role in addressing these challenges by promoting and developing affordable housing in areas where it’s needed most.
From winter 2024/2025, households in England and Wales will no longer be entitled to the Winter Fuel Payment unless they receive Pension Credit or certain other means-tested benefits.
In an effort to uplift rural areas and assist local communities, the government has initiated the Unleashing Rural Opportunity Strategy. As a part of this strategy, a network of Rural Housing Enablers (RHEs) have been appointed across England where a need to support the provision of rural homes through Rural Exception Sites. The Rural Housing Enablers will be in post until March 2025 to address the critical need for affordable housing in rural England.
Our partners at ACRE have shared this press release (below) about growing concerns over the lack of new housing in rural communities – and it makes for interesting reading.
Life has been exceptionally difficult for residents of care homes over the past year, with COVID-19 making visits from friends and family impossible. Only recently have we seen restrictions lifting enough such that visitors can once again be welcomed in.
Village and community halls everywhere have felt keenly the impact of COVID-19 on their ability to provide social and recreational events. For many the ongoing lack of income has presented a tangible financial crisis. How much more so then, for a brand-new community hall, whose planned launch coincided with the first pandemic lockdown in March 2020?
The Feed is a not-for-profit social enterprise providing catering services, with a very clear mission to prevent poverty, hunger and homelessness in Norwich.
Many of you reading this will know about ThinkingFuel, our collective heating oil buying scheme. And you’ll know that the aim is to help support householders across Norfolk who depend on heating oil to heat their homes, and for whom the unregulated cost of heating oil is a constant worry.