The UK government has announced a £20m package for community groups looking to develop housing – including community land trusts and housing co-operatives.
Housing and planning minister Matthew Pennycook said the money will directly support the construction of more than 2,500 new homes over the next decade. These housebuilding projects will be led by communities to specifically address local needs in their area, he added.
The move, he said, will place power into the hands of local people who will take the lead in the design and location of new homes, with community groups being able to access land and receive planning permission where speculative developments cannot.
This is the first time the government has supported this approach to finance housebuilding at this scale and it hopes the money will help overcome critical barriers to community-led housing delivery, such as access to capital.
The investment forms part of the government’s Plan for Change and commitment to build 1.5 million new homes as well as helping more working people and families achieve the dream of home ownership, boosting growth and raising living standards across the country.
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“Community-led housing not only delivers social and affordable homes for local people,“ said Pennycook, “it also gives local communities a greater say on where new homes are built and how they are designed.
“This investment will help community-based organisations overcome barriers to housing delivery and will support the growth of the community-led housing sector.
“Through our Plan for Change we are boosting housing supply and reforming the housing system, delivering on our commitment to the biggest increase in social and affordable housebuilding in a generation.”
The community-led housing sector is grossly under-developed in the UK compared to other countries in Europe, ministers warn, resulting in a significant loss of potential social and affordable housing as well as depriving communities of the high-quality housing they want.
The government is investing the £20m in a social finance fund, which will be led by Resonance, who have worked with community organisations to support the delivery of these homes.
This investment will be used to attract up to £30m in match-funding from the private sector, says the government, as well as local authorities and combined mayoral authorities.
“This is a landmark moment for our fund and for the community-led housing movement,” said Jon Rolls, head of developing communities at Resonance. “MHCLG’s investment will act as a vital catalyst, unlocking more support for communities determined to shape their own futures. It’s simple – when communities are in the driving seat, brilliant things happen.”
Community Land Trust Network CEO Tom Chance said: “This investment will be welcomed by hundreds of communities working to build thousands of much-needed homes, from tourist hotspots where local are priced out to city neighbourhoods blighted by a lack of investment. Community-led development offers local people a tool to be builders rather than blockers.”
The government says the package ties in with its overhaul of the planning system with a new growth-focused National Planning Policy Framework, which has imposed new mandatory housebuilding targets for councils.
The updated planning framework has also strengthened support for community-led housing, ministers claim, which includes broadening the definition of organisations able to deliver this housing and making changes to the size limit on community-led sites to allow more homes to be built.
The government says its investment in housing has increased to £5bn for this year, including a top-up of £800m being injected into the existing Affordable Homes Programme to help deliver tens of thousands of new social and affordable homes across the country.
It also announced an extra £2bn injection of new grant funding to build up to 18,000 new social and affordable homes.
As part of its Long-Term Housing Strategy, which is due to be published later this year, the government is considering further measures to help grow the community-led housing sector.
Ministers have also extended the Four Million Homes programme, an initiative that aims to build knowledge and action for change in social housing across England. It offers social housing resident guidance, information and training about their rights and how to stand up for them.
The decision to extend the programme was announced in Parliament recently by the deputy prime minister, Angela Rayner, when she delivered the government’s official response to the Grenfell Inquiry’s Phase 2 Report.
In the past two years, the programme, run by the Confederation of Co-operative Housing (CCH), has trained 3000 social housing residents and given information to hundreds of thousands through social media and the Four Million Homes website. CCH says the extension ensures that more residents will have the opportunity to enhance their knowledge of their rights within social housing, empowering them to create positive change in their housing and communities.
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The programme will include a review and expansion of its training content, in response to new requirements such as Awaab’s Law. It will continue its monthly topic-based webinar sessions, giving residents the opportunity to interact with officials and experts, share experiences and learn practical strategies. It will also build on its online offer, using social media content and short, accessible guides to ensure that as many residents of the four million social homes in England have access to the information required to exercise their rights and hold their landlords to account.
Residents who participate in the programme leave feeling more confident, skilled and inspired to make a difference. Feedback from participants has included:
“It’s made me feel empowered, When I came for the first time, I was at a really low point and started to feel that it was acceptable, how my housing is and how my landlord is treating me. It made me realise that it isn’t acceptable”
“I learnt that I have rights as a tenant and how to voice my issues with my landlord”
Helen Bartlett, Four Million Homes programme manager and CCH Associate, said: “All of the team at Four Million Homes are delighted that the government has shown its continued support for the vitally important work that Four Million Homes provides to social housing residents about their rights and their landlords responsibilities.”
