13.1. The delivery of affordable housing is essential to meeting the needs of those on the housing register. However, it is important to recognise that due to a range of constraints and the legacy of historic government policies, the council is also making use of alternative options to meet its duties, including increasing access to housing within the PRS.
13.2. As of July 2025, there are 3226 households on the housing register in Norwich. Applicants are placed into priority bands emergency, gold, silver, bronze and standard band. Numbers of households in each band are detailed in table 2. Customers are placed into a band primarily based on assessed need, with those in the greatest need receiving the highest priority for social housing.
| Band | Number of Customers in Band as of August 2025 |
|---|---|
| Emergency | 3 |
| Gold | 241 |
| Silver | 842 |
| Bronze | 191 |
| Standard | 1949 |
Table 2 - Number of Customers on housing register in Norwich broken down into band August 2025
13.3. Affordable housing is defined in Annex 2 of the National Planning Policy Framework (NPPF) as housing for sale or rent that caters to those whose needs are not met by the open market. This includes housing at social rent, affordable rent, or