Housing Need and Demand Assessment (HNDA) A Managers Guide (2026)

How should an HNDA be managed?

4.1 Local authorities should establish a Housing Market Partnership (HMP) to oversee the development, production and sign-off of the HNDA. The structure and membership of the HMP should be determined locally to reflect the circumstances and requirements of individual partnerships. As a minimum, however the HMP should comprise a core group consisting of housing and planning officials within each of the constituent authorities. This might also include representation from health and social work departments and where relevant National Parks. Ideally, however, the HMP should include external organisations as well, for example developers, RSLs and community representatives.

1.2 Further sub-group arrangements or virtual groups may be put in place to accommodate other interested stakeholders and support wider engagement and consultation. The structure and arrangements supporting the HMP should be fit-for-purpose to allow the HNDA to progress timeously and to support broad agreement and understanding of the process and outputs among councils and wider stakeholders. The membership and structure of each HMP should be set out clearly from the outset as well as the arrangements for wider consultation and engagement.