Topics relating to housing

The housing people live is a key determinant of their health and wellbeing and the affordability of housing is a key factor in financial security and the cost of living.  Poor quality housing has been linked to a range of health issues, including some serious respiratory and cardio-vascular illnesses.  

A person’s living arrangements can affect their likelihood of loneliness and involuntary social isolation and the type and age of housing they live in can be a factor in fuel poverty and cold homes.

Health outcomes for people who are homeless are significantly worse than average across a wide range of indicators and homelessness is often linked to poor mental health and alcohol and substance abuse.  People who are sleeping rough are at particularly high risk.

Supporting data for this page can be found in the Related Documents section and in the Economy and Cost-of-Living Compendium on the Economy page.

Household composition

According to the last UK Census, there were 82,800 households in Herefordshire in 2021, 4,500 more than in 2011 (up by 5.7%), compared with a 6.1% increase across England & Wales. There were around 184,000 usual residents who lived in households. The remaining 2,400 usual residents lived in communal establishments: 500 fewer than ten years ago.

The need for housing is to a certain extent dependent upon the current distribution of household composition types. For example, a higher proportion of single person households would indicate a higher demand for smaller dwellings.

• In 2021, 14% of adults living in households in Herefordshire lived alone, a similar proportion to England & Wales (13%). This amounted to 25,400 single-person households, around half (51%) were pensioners (aged 66+), equating to 28% of all pensioners.
• Herefordshire has a higher proportion (16%) of lone pensioner households compared to England and Wales (13%), whereas the proportion of other single person households in the county (15%) is lower (17% nationally).
• There were fewer households with dependent children in 2021 than 10 years previously: 19,600 in 2021 compared with 20,700 in 2011, making up just under a quarter of households (24%); a lower proportion than England & Wales (28%). There were 8,300 households with grown-up children living at home, a 12% increase since 2011 (although as a proportion of all households this has not changed significantly).
• There were 7,300 lone parent households in 2021. The proportion (9%) remains relatively stable and is lower than for England & Wales (11%).
• The last decade has seen a large increase in the number of concealed families, i.e. those that live in a household containing more than one family (including grown-up children who have a spouse, partner or child living in the household; elderly parents living with their family; or unrelated families sharing a home).  Concealed families can be used as an indicator of housing demand for planning purposes, as this group potentially includes those interested in future household formation.  In 2021 there were around 950 concealed families, around 100 more than in 2011.
• In 2021, there was a higher proportion of lone pensioner households in Herefordshire’s market towns. Furthermore, whilst rural Herefordshire had relatively high proportions of older adults (aged 45 to 75), the market towns had the highest proportions of people aged 80+.
• The proportion of other single person households was higher in the city and the market towns, whilst proportions of married or same-sex civil partnership couple households without children was higher rural locations.
• The proportion of lone parent households with dependent children was highest in Hereford city.

Household tenure

• According to the 2021 Census, there were 88,100 dwellings in Herefordshire, 67% being owner occupied, 19% private rented and 14% social rented.
• Herefordshire had a higher proportion of households (67%) who owned their own home (either outright or with a mortgage, loan or shared ownership) which was higher than in England & Wales (63%).
• While outright home ownership had increased (from 39% in 2011 to 42% in 2021) rates of home ownership with a mortgage or loan had fallen (from 28% in 2011 to 24% in 2021) due to rising house prices in the face of significantly lower than national average earnings.
• Just under a third (32%) of households rented their home, which is a lower proportion than in England & Wales (37%).  Private renting increased from 15% in 2011 to 19% in 2021, similarly to nationally; households renting in the social sector remained at 14% of households since 2011 and is a lower proportion than nationally (17%).

Cost and affordability

• Average house prices in Herefordshire are generally consistently lower than nationally but higher than regionally.  In the year ending March 2025, the average (median) house price in Herefordshire was £295,000, compared to £300,000 in England and £250,000 in the West Midlands. 
• There has been a long-term trend of worsening housing affordability nationally but with some areas worse affected than others. Housing affordability is linked to house prices and to wages and is indicative of high demand and/or inadequate supply in the housing market of an area. According to one estimate, 340,000 new homes need to be supplied in England each year, of which 145,000 should be affordable, in order to meet predicted demand.
• In England and Wales as a whole housing affordability has been improving since a sharp deterioration between 2020 and 2021.   However, housing affordability in Herefordshire remains consistently worse than in England and the West Midlands.  In 2024, the ratio of median house price to median annual workplace-based earnings in Herefordshire was 8.65, down from 9.59 in 2023 but still significantly higher than in England (7.57) and the West Midlands region (6.73).
• Herefordshire’s poor housing affordability is linked to its rurality, with an over-representation of desirable, larger detached houses combined with a relatively low wage economy, which creates barriers to home ownership for young and single people and for those with low to average earnings. At the same time, the county is an attractive destination for those from more affluent areas.
• The last Herefordshire Housing Market Area Needs Assessment (2021) found that there was a notable need for more affordable housing in the county.

Private Rental costs

Nationally, a chronic undersupply of private rental accommodation is being exacerbated by rising mortgage costs on buy-to-let properties, tax and regulatory changes that are causing many small landlords to quit the market.  In addition, while the cost of rental homes has increased, the freezing of Local Housing Allowance from 2020 to 2024 (and other reforms since 2010) has meant support for housing costs within the benefits system decreased, causing significant hardship.

• Median monthly rents (all property types) are lower in Herefordshire than regionally or nationally but are rising faster than the overall rate of inflation in line with the national and regional trend.  Also, earnings are significantly lower here than regionally and nationally. In October 2025 the average monthly private rental cost in Herefordshire was £817, up 6.6% from October 2024. This was higher than the rise in the West Midlands (5.2%) and England (5.0%) over the year.  However, average private rents remained lower than the West Midlands (£948) and England (£1,416).

Energy efficiency and household heating

Cold homes are a risk factor across a range of serious health conditions and ultimately contribute to excess winter deaths.  Less energy efficient homes are more difficult and expensive to heat.  National research by ONS has found that older adults 65+ and those with multiple generations living in them are disproportionately likely to be living in such homes.

• ONS data show that across all property types up to the end of the 2024-25 financial year,  Herefordshire properties had a median energy efficiency rating in band D, with an overall score of 67 across all property types, lower than the West Midlands region (69) and England as a whole (69), where the most energy-efficient homes have an energy efficiency rating in band A and the least energy-efficient homes are in band G.
• Several factors affect the energy efficiency of housing, including property type, tenure and when it was constructed. Less energy efficient properties are more expensive to keep warm.
• Herefordshire has a disproportionately high number of relatively energy inefficient older detached houses compared to regionally and nationally (see fuel poverty).  The median energy efficiency score of detached properties in Herefordshire (63) was significantly lower than regionally and nationally (67 and 68 respectively) although still within Band D.
• Amongst other types of housing, only terraced housing (69) had a higher rating than regionally (67) and nationally (67).
• Households with expensive oil-fired or bottled gas central heating are particularly vulnerable to cost-of-living increases. Department for Energy Security and Net Zero data show that in 2023, an estimated 38% of Herefordshire properties were not connected to the gas grid, compared to 13% in the West Midlands region and 15% in England as a whole.
• 2021 Census data showed the proportion of households in Herefordshire with oil-only central heating was significantly higher than regionally and nationally: 16.2% compared to 3.0% and 3.2% respectively.  The proportion with tank or bottled gas only, although relatively small, was also significantly higher than regionally and nationally (3.5% compared to 1.2% and 1.0% respectively).  Conversely, the proportion of households with mains gas central heating was significantly lower: 53.7% compared to 75.2% in the West Midlands and 74.0% in England. 1.9% of households in Herefordshire (over 1,500 homes) had no central heating compared to 1.5% regionally and nationally.

Homelessness

Nationally, cost-of-living pressures coupled with an under-supply of affordable social housing and the failure of housing benefit to keep pace with inflation, has all increased the risk of homelessness.  Homelessness is more prevalent amongst certain groups, with homelessness more prevalent amongst certain minority ethnic groups, people with disabilities, people who reported bad or very bad health, and people with no qualifications.

People who are homeless face significant health inequalities, with poorer health outcomes than the rest of the population.[1] 

• In Herefordshire, between 2022-23 and 2023-24 the number of households that were either homeless (with a relief duty owed) or threatened with being homeless (preventing duty owed) fell from 1,328 to 758.  Within the total of those threatened with homelessness, the number of households threatened with homelessness due to a valid Section 21 Notice dropped from 88 to 54.

Rough sleepers

Rough sleepers are defined as people sleeping, about to bed down (sitting on/in or standing next to their bedding) or actually bedded down in the open air (such as on the streets, in tents, doorways, parks, bus shelters or encampments). People in buildings or other places not designed for habitation (such as stairwells, barns, sheds, car parks, cars, derelict boats, stations, or “bashes”).  

• Although numbers are difficult to establish with certainty, the average number of rough sleepers on a single night in Herefordshire was estimated at 19 in 2023, more than two and a half times the average number of 7 in 2020. 

The Herefordshire Homelessness Prevention and Rough Sleeping Strategy 2020-2025 sets out a series of actions aimed at reducing homelessness and rough sleeping in the county.

[1] Unhealthy State of Homelessness 2022: Findings from the Homeless Health Needs Audit, Homeless Link, December 2024.