Household Composition in Bedford - Research Paper Example

Household composition in Bedford Household composition in Bedford A household according to ONS is one person living alone or a group of people who are not necessarily related who live together at the same address share cooking facilities and/or sitting room or living room or dining area. Composition of household shows whether a family is present and also whether the other members of unrelated household are present. Households can contain visitors too especially the lone ones. The family characteristics are accounted for in the composition of the household since there are cases when you find that more than one family are residing in the same dwelling. This can happen if the members have couples with children. Partially moving households represent net additional growth in housing requirements Housing market areas give the reflection of the key association between where people work and where they live and give a representation of the places in which majority residents will search for housing when they move home. The housing markets’ boundaries are detached from those of the local authorities and there is usually overlap between authorities. Most residents of Bedford and the residents of the neighboring authorities usually look to the Bedford Housing market for their needs (Spradlin 2001, 1). Literature review The net completions of the housing stock in Bedford increased by 8, 200 between the year 2001-2014 to a total approximate figure of 69, 500 dwelling units in March 2014. About 35% of the completed dwelling units since 2001 have been flats. Over 17% of these completions were social landlords and the other 16% were housing units affordable and ready for sale under assisted ownership schemes. There are various upcoming residential developments which are primarily located on the skirts of the urban area that has included new community of Wixams in Wilshamstead. Other major developments are under planning in Biddenham, Eastcotts, Great Denham, Renhold and Wootton, and on lands West of Kempston (Bedford Borough Profile, 2014, p. 2). Many areas on the fringes fall between market centers and the neighboring authorities. Most of the north-east parts of the Borough are considered part of the Huntingdon and St Ives market but the Central Bedfordshire area around Ampthill is considered to be within the Bedford housing market. Certain areas in Borough exist within the Northampton market. (Spradlin 2001, 4). AIMS AND OBJECTIVES Gathering useful information on the composition of households by; Analyzing the current stock of housing The changes in the housing activities that have taken place over the past decade The probable scale of the location of the households as well as the residential developments in the future years. The household numbers and the characteristics such as housing costs, rental costs as well as the supply of affordable housing in Bedford. A study from the 2011 census provided the following useful information; Existing housing supply and future developments Housing Stock in 2014 The housing stock of Bedford in the 2001 census stood at 61,260 and was followed by a steady increase by just over 8, 200 dwellings to a total estimate of about 69, 500 in March 2014. The gross completions between 2001 and March 2014 stood at 8, 742 although about 527 dwelling units were lost in demolitions or conversions (Spradlin 2001, 7). Vacant Homes Census conducted in 2011 estimated about 3, 841 household spaces in Bedford were not occupied because they were basically second homes or may be because they were empty. There will always be presence of some homes not occupied may be because of a natural result of residential ownership and rental markets. The main concern is on the empty properties that have remained in that state for a long period of time and have effectively been removed from the available housing stock. Between April 2008 and March 2013, Bedford Borough Council brought 693 empty homes back into use through its policy known as Empty Homes Strategy (Bedford Borough Profile, 2014, p. 8). Housing Tenure There is a key characteristic of the tenure mix of Bedford Borough which is the evident high proportion of other social rented compared to the low proportion of the rented by the council. This happened because of the transfer of the Council Housing to the Bedfordshire Pilgrims Housing Association (bpha) in 1990. The number of the privately rented households has increased in number in between 2001 and 2011 from 5, 921 a percentage of about 9.8% of the total dwellings to 10, 110 a percentage of 15.9%. this incline reflected a growth in the number of the buy-to-let properties, increase in higher purchase costs, and difficulties in accessing mortgages (Spradlin 2001, 10). Dwelling Type Bedford Borough is composed of a higher proportion of detached, semi-detached and converted flats dwelling units than England, as well as lower proportions of terraced housing and flats. Bedford has a lower proportion of purpose built flats and detached and terraced houses relative to the East England region. Between 2005 and 2014, the housing completions accomplished by then provided a broader mix of household sizes measured by the number of bedrooms with majority of them being either 1-bedroom or 2-bedroom homes. 35% of such completions comprised mainly of flats and 2,690 of the 5,989 gross completions were on previously developed land (Spradlin 2001, 11). Council Tax Bands Relative to England where the highest portion of the dwellings are in Council Tax Band A, the largest proportion of the households in Bedford borough are in bands B and C, with each band accounting for about 25% of the total dwellings. Housing Forecasts Since time memorial, the Regional Spatial Strategies directed housing targets and was designed to ensure that housing policies issued by the government are well implemented. This has been into existence until recent. The South Midlands (MKSM) and the Milton Keynes and Sub Regional Strategy in Bedford Borough provided a target of 16,270 new dwelling units for the part of the Borough in the MKSM Growth Area. Additionally, the East of England Plan proposed 1,300 dwelling units in the rest of the Borough. This meant a total of about 17,570 dwelling units will be provided between 2001 and 2021. This figure constituted the housing proposals in the Core Strategy and Rural Issues Plan which was published in April 2008 and which is currently being updated (Spradlin 2001, 13). The number and the characteristics of households Household Numbers As stated earlier, the 2011 census provided an approximate of 63, 000 households in Bedford. However, comparing this figure by other data from the Council Tax, it is likely that the Census underrated the number if the households in Bedford largely because it overestimated the number of the vacant properties. It is approximated that the total number of households available in Bedford Borough at the end of March 2013 was about 67, 000. This number is expected to increase to more than 72, 000 by the year 2021, an increase of almost 9% relative to that of 2014 (Spradlin 2001, 14). Household Residents About 2, 943 people lived in Communal Establishments in the year 2011. This is about 1.9% of the total population. The remaining population is termed as the Household population and comprises the largest majority of the population of Bedford, about 98.1% of the total population. Household Size Average size of a household is the average number of people living in that household. It was 2.8 since 1981 in Bedford but it has been declining steadily over time due to the rising cases of one person households in the region. Though the long term may incline towards a low average household size, it is evident that the average household size has remained static over the recent years. The 2011 census indicated that the average household in Bedford borough dropped only slightly from 2.44 to 2.42 between 2001 and 2011. This drop could possibly be attributed to demographic, cultural and economic influences like (Spradlin 2001, 15); Young people live with their parents for long periods and do not focus on forming households or returning to live at home. Due to the increase of housing costs and availability, there is an increase in sharing rates amongst single people. New migrants live in large households and share accommodation facilities. Increased costs of housing, limited access to mortgages, and high levels of debts in students. There has been a significant improvement in male life expectancy that has resulted to more elderly couples in the households and fewer one-person pensioner households. There has been increased rates of annul births in Bedford since 2008. There are people who rent their homes to earn income. There is little or no suggestion to immediately alter these circumstances meaning that there is a likelihood of stability in the average household size for the next few years before possibly resuming its long-term downward trend. Household Composition The type and the composition of households in Bedford are clearly portrayed by the 2011 Census. Almost half of the households in Bedford were non-pensioner in the year 2011 and 60% of them had children. In the same year there were 12,976 pensioner households in the Borough, of which 7,616 were pensioners who live alone. The metropolitan areas of Bedford and Kempston have more non-pensioners living alone than pensioners. The rural area has few one-person households generally with a high proportion of pensioners. Lone-parent households consisted of 11% of all the households in 2011 and about 4, 854 had independent children (Spradlin 2001, 16). Overcrowded Households Overcrowding can now be calculated in relation to total number of rooms or to number of bedrooms. It is determined by ONS on the basis of the rate of occupation where a household having 2 fewer rooms than required in terms of number, gender, age and the relationship of the people in the house is deemed to be severely overcrowded. The one having a deficiency of one room is deemed to be moderately overcrowded. Bedford Borough through the use of measuring the number of rooms has a lower proportion of severely overcrowded households than England but higher than the Region. Castle (5.5%), Harpur (5.5%) and Queens Park (5.4%) wards experience the highest levels of severe overcrowding (Spradlin 2001, 17). About 430 households in the Bedford (0.7%) are severely overcrowded using the measure of the bedrooms. The highest levels are in Queens Park (3.5%), Cauldwell (1.8%), and Castle (1.5%). 3.4% of the households in Bedford are moderately overcrowded using the measure of bedrooms with the highest level in Queens Park ward which has a 9.6%. Housing Costs and Affordable Housing Ownership Costs Median house prices in Bedford Borough increased greatly between 2001 and 2008 showing a rise from £92,000 to a climax of £180,000. It followed a decline in the remaining part of 2008 as well as the 1st half of 2009 and ultimately recovered in 2010/2012. According to the individuals with modest incomes or rather the first-time buyers, it is meaningful to measure the costs of ownership using the lower quartile house. This greatly rose between 2001 and 2008 from £70,000 to £140,000 showing declines in the next year but has risen since (Spradlin 2001, 18). Adding the earlier rises in the housing costs and this doubling of the decade has created considerable affordability problems, especially for first-time buyers remarkably deteriorating the housing affordability in Bedford Borough over the last 15 years. High mortgage levels and the difficulty in accessing them especially for first time buyers plus the big deposits demanded buy the lenders has added to the problems of affordability. However, to some degree this problem can be mitigated by the Help to Buy scheme which provides 95% mortgages on new build properties. The decline in the house sales in Bedford can be attributed to the lower consumer confidence, economic downtown, higher deposit requirements and the difficulty in accessing mortgages. But the case was not the same in the year 2013 when the prices as well as the sales started picking up again a trend that has extended to the next year (Spradlin 2001, 18). Rental Costs Registered Social Landlords charged average weekly rents in the Bedford that saw an increase from £59 per week to £91 an increase of 54% between 2001 and 2013. The estimates of average weekly rents are provided by the Valuation Office Agency in the Bedford’s private rental market that ranges from £84 (£365 pcm) for a studio, £156 (£675 pcm) for a 3-bedroom, and £219 (£950 pcm) for a 5-bedroom property. Affordable Housing Supply The Planning Policy on planning permissions approved since 2001 has seen securing of over 3250 new and affordable dwelling units. About 1,750 of these had been completed by April 2014. A further 459 units of affordable housing have been provided outside Planning Policy requirements (Spradlin 2001, 19). Reference List Spradlin, F. (2001). Bedford County, Virginia, 1860 census. Torrance, California: F.L. Spradlin. Read More