Housing: Cooperatives – Parliamentary Written Answer

Cathy Jamieson: To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government (1) what steps he is taking to increase the number of housing co-operatives in the UK;

(2) what financial support his Department makes available for housing co-operatives;

(3) what estimate he has made of the numbers of housing co-operatives in (a) the UK and (b) Scotland.

Mr Prisk: This Government supports the spread of strong, financially robust and democratically accountable housing co-operatives.  The CLG does not hold a central register of housing co-operatives in the UK or Scotland. There are currently over 200 housing co-operatives in England registered with the Homes and Communities Agency as providers of affordable housing.

Housing co-operatives that are registered with the Homes and Communities Agency may be eligible to bid for funding through the Affordable Homes Guarantee, Build to Rent and Custom Build programmes. Funding was also available to Community and Voluntary organisations, which include housing co-operatives, to bring empty homes back into use as affordable housing, as well as from the community led element of the Affordable Homes Programme.

More broadly, my Department, through the Homes and Communities Agency, continues to engage with the community led sector, including the Confederation of Cooperative Housing, to support them with their plans to expand the sector.