The Strategic Rural Housing Scheme will remain a core activity of the Fund. By accepting young families as tenants the Fund has acquired long-term commitments and the Fund must remain sustainable to meet these.

The Fund is flexible. Even in the first year of the scheme there has been a turnover in property. One family accepted that they needed to leave their farm and identified a property that met their needs. They had some capital to invest and calculated that by the time their business was wound up they would have the remainder. The Fund made the shortfall available to them. As it happened, all worked out satisfactorily and the loan was repaid. In the event that the farm sale had not achieved expectations or dilapidations were more than budgeted, the Fund could have converted part of the loan to a rental agreement.

In this, and other, cases the Fund provides a ‘safety net’ to underpin the various requirements of families. However, the Fund will not compromise the purchasing power of its reserves. It is never the intention to profit from any individual arrangement, but the value of the Fund’s reserves must remain intact to safeguard the future sustainability of the Fund.

Affordable Housing
The need for affordable housing to enable people to remain within their community is now well established. The Fund has always been receptive to new ideas. If you have any thoughts on how the Fund can further its objectives.