Hertsmere Borough Council has been awarded funding which it says will help tackle the "deepening housing affordability crisis" in the borough in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic.

The council says it has been working on an affordable housing and tenancy policy that will set out how housing delivery can better meet local need.

To help progress this policy, Hertsmere is one of just 17 local authorities to receive a government grant of £20,000, which comes from the Local Government Association's housing advisers programme.

Currently, Hertsmere households must earn at least £67,000 to afford to buy a property and £34,400 to rent privately.

However, the lower quartile income level for Hertsmere’s population is £25,300, according to the most recent local housing need assessment, meaning home ownership or private rental is out of reach for a significant proportion of the borough’s residents.

Councillor Jean Heywood, portfolio holder for housing, said: "We currently have more than 500 households on our housing register, all eligible for lower-cost housing, but the supply simply doesn’t meet the demand.

"Unfortunately, the pandemic is only going to exacerbate the problem – more and more people are finding themselves out of work, which could impact on their ability to privately rent. They may need support from us to help find somewhere to live.

"As a non-stock-holding council, we already have strong relationships with registered housing providers and routinely engage with developers to help ensure that homes are built to meet local need."

Cllr Heywood continued: "However, our new affordable housing and tenancy policy will help strengthen our position when negotiating housing on new developments, and help improve transparency with registered providers and developers.

"With this policy, we will be clearly setting out our stall in terms of what we expect from developers, registered housing providers and all our partners.

"Longer-term, we expect this work to lead to the development of more suitable and affordable housing, which will benefit us all."

A draft of the policy will be available for public consultation later this year.