Affordable Housing - Home Page

considered. The agreed form of tenure will need to be informed by the
characteristics of the housing market in the area concerned.
7.4 When Subsidy is Unavailable
Fife Council recognises that intermediate tenures i.e. mid market rent, shared
equity and discounted sale provided without subsidy have an important role to
play in the provision of affordable housing. Firstly they can be provided where
no Scottish Government subsidy for affordable housing is available. And
secondly they broaden the choice of affordable housing options available to
those households in need. This is required to address the variance between
households’ ability to contribute to their housing costs.
In order to focus the limited amount of available subsidy, the following
‘cascade’ approach will be adopted to secure the development of affordable
housing without subsidy:
The inclusion of intermediate tenure housing within housing developments
will be accepted as meeting the requirement for affordable housing until a
fixed quota of the identified requirement for affordable housing in any given
area has been met, for example in the St Andrews LHSA x% of the overall
requirement for affordable housing in this area can be provided as
intermediate tenures. The quotas for each Local Housing Strategy Area
will be detailed within the SHIP.
Once the specified quota has been reached, the Council will not be obliged
to accept non social rented housing as meeting the requirements of the
affordable housing policy.
Proposals in excess of the Structure Plan housing land requirement, and
solely for affordable housing, may be accepted, if they provide affordable
housing in perpetuity for specific groups of people working locally, with
earnings below an agreed threshold value.
In areas where providing the affordable housing requirement without subsidy
is not viable, the following approach will be followed: The Council will accept
serviced land which could be developed in the future by either the council or a
RSL as an alternative. This is based on the assumption that nil land cost is
more viable for developers than nil grant for social rented housing. Indicative
modelling carried out by consultants suggests that transferring the equivalent
land needed to provide affordable housing at nil cost is likely to be viable in
almost all market areas in Fife.
8.0 Tenure
As previously stated Fife Council’s and Fife Housing Partnership’s preference
and first priority is for the provision of social rented housing through an
RSL/Fife Council. However, it is recognised that all of the tenures listed below
have a role to play in the provision of affordable housing in Fife. Early
negotiations with Housing and Neighbourhood Services' officers are important
in clarifying the number of units and tenure type(s) that developers would be
22