Will the government build on the success of community-led approaches to housebuilding, asks Tom Chance, chief executive of the Community Land Trust Network
Excepts from the article can be found below:
“Grosvenor research in 2019 found just 2% of the public trust developers and only 7% trust planning authorities. I hear time and again from people who are frustrated that all they see being built are pricey executive homes, holiday homes or ‘affordable homes’ that aren’t genuinely affordable.”
The article goes on to say:
“From 2018 to 2022, the government pump-primed this community-led approach to housebuilding. The Community Housing Fund provided revenue grants worth £27m and a further £4.5m of capital funding, which went into hundreds of projects and support infrastructure across England.
The revenue funds were hugely oversubscribed, helping new and small providers to meet the pre-development costs averaging £11,000 per home, which large providers can soak up in their working capital.
We have reviewed the progress of 206 funded projects, and the results make for encouraging reading.
At least 4,222 homes have come forward. Nine in 10 of these are affordable housing tenures, mostly for social or affordable rent. There is also a strong undercurrent of demand for non-standard tenures not supported by the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP), which were eligible for capital grants through the Community Housing Fund while it was open.”
Tom highlights that the Community-Led Housing start-up funding and other support has had a positive impact overall:
“Many of the projects only got very small exploratory start-up grants of up to £5,000. Of those that received substantial funding, two-thirds have either completed their homes, are under construction, or have a site and planning consent secured.
Only 5% of projects have stalled or thrown in the towel. This adds weight to a Capital Economics study from 2021 which found that community-led housing offers high value for public money.”
He continues:
“For housing associations like Aster, CLTs have increased their reach into rural areas. Thanks to the Community Housing Fund, communities have been able to initiate projects, find willing landowners, win local support and then bring the housing association in to finance, build and manage the homes. Homes England attributes a significant uptick in rural social housing to CLTs in the South West, where this model is best established.
For the communities, the CLTs are a lifeline and the housing association the life float, partnering to build desperately needed affordable homes that wouldn’t otherwise happen.”
Read the full article here: https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/comment/community-led-housing-is-vital-to-building-and-retaining-public-trust-88990