Market Alone Won’t Solve Housing Crisis

Grenfell and pandemic may have brought us to a ‘Beveridge moment’, says Tory MP. Placing “rocket boosters” under community-led housing initiatives is the way to tackle the crisis rather than relying on the market, a former advisor to Boris Johnson has said. Bottom-up approaches such as community land trusts (CLTs) could be ramped up to “break the stranglehold of developers” and increase the affordability of housing, said Danny Kruger, a Tory MP who has been an adviser to two prime ministers. CLTs could also be something around which to build cross-party support, which will be essential in tackling what is a multi-generational challenge, he said. Read more on the Housing Today website.

https://www.housingtoday.co.uk/news/market-alone-wont-solve-housing-crisis-says-former-pm-advisor/5110608.article 

Community Led-Housing Has Potential To Unlock ‘Thousands Of Homes’

Community land trusts have over 16,000 new homes in the development pipeline – thanks to the removal of barriers that had before prevented them. That was the figure shared by the National CLT Network’s Samantha Jones at the National Housing Federation’s Smaller Housing Conference. Focusing on the increased success of housing associations partnering with community land trusts, Jones said that the “common-ground” between the both can maximise the potential on development projects across the country. Examples included that of Norton-sub-Hamdon in south Somerset – a partnership between Wessex Community Assets and Yarlington Housing Group. Read more on 24housing.

https://www.24housing.co.uk/news/community-led-housing-has-potential-to-unlock-thousands-of-homes/

Government’s £300m Community Housing Fund Faces ‘Serious Under Allocation’

A £300m government programme for community-led housing could be “seriously under allocated” with homes left unfinished if it is not extended, the National Community Land Trust (CLT) Network has warned. The Community Housing Fund was expected to be worth £60m annually for five years when first announced in 2016, but will actually run for just 18 months. The fund was unveiled by David Cameron’s government at the 2016 spring Budget. However, the bidding did not open until July 2018 and will close at the end of 2019 – with all awarded funding needing to be spent by March 2020. Read more on Inside Housing.

https://www.insidehousing.co.uk/news/governments-300m-community-housing-fund-faces-serious-under-allocation-60157?utm_source=Housing60&utm_medium=email&utm_content=article_link&utm_campaign=H60

Right to Buy Scheme: Housing Associations – Parliamentary Written Answer

Asked by Lord Dear: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether a Community Land Trust under the proposed Right to Buy scheme is required to sell one of the houses it owns if it is unable to provide an alternative from (1) its existing stock, (2) its newly built stock, (3) the stock it will build in the future or (4) the stock of another housing association.

Baroness Williams of Trafford: Under the voluntary agreement with the National Housing Federation, there would be a presumption that housing associations would sell the tenant the property in which they live, but there would be some broad circumstances where a housing association could exercise discretion to decline a sale. These circumstances include properties held in the Communities Land Trust.

Families Clubbing Together To Build Their Own Affordable Accommodation

Families unable to afford somewhere to live are clubbing together to build their own affordable accommodation in a new trend as communities are forced to find their own ways of solving the British housing crisis. Residents across the country are forming community land trusts (CLTs), membership groups which buy up or lease plots of land and manage them on behalf of local people. They borrow from councils, government or banks to build new homes for sale to locals, with prices set at rates linked to real local wages rather than their prospective value on the open market. There are 170 such schemes across the UK, expected to build 3,000 new homes by 2020. Read more on the Independent website.

“Community Land Trusts Are Answer to Affordable Housing Crisis”

An innovative community-based model of land and property ownership can form a crucial part of a national strategy to tackle the crisis in affordable housing, according to a study produced by a leading research centre based at the University of Salford.  The report into Community Land Trusts (CLTs) by social and financial inclusion research unit Community Finance Solutions concludes that they have proved themselves as a viable way to build affordable homes and that such schemes can be expanded significantly to provide a sustainable part of the Government’s localism agenda.  A CLT is a charity or not-for-profit organisation which owns land and property for the benefit of a community and as a resource for future generations, rather than for market speculation. Over the last decade more than 80 CLTs have sprung up in both rural and urban areas.  Read more on the Salford University website.

HCA Publishes Bidding Guidance for Community Housing Schemes

The Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) has published a toolkit designed to help partners put communities in charge of development in their area – along with guidance on how community-led groups can apply for funding to take on development themselves. Part of the Government’s recent Housing Strategy, the HCA has published the bidding guidance and criteria on how community-led groups can apply for funding to take forward their own housing and regeneration projects. These groups could include co-operatives, mutuals, co-housing, self build, Community Land Trusts and the emerging Community Right to Build. Funding is available as part of the Affordable Homes Programme, which aims to deliver up to 80,000 affordable homes by 2015, and is part of the HCA’s enabling and investment role and commitment to localism. Read more on the HCA website.

Community Groups Get Funding For Homes

The government is to make £25 million of start-up funding available for community land trusts. It is believed that CLG has agreed to provide seedcorn funding for community groups looking to develop homes using the community right to build, which allows local groups to bypass the planning system if they gain sufficient support in a referendum. The funding follows the launch of a network designed to lobby on behalf of CLTs. The Community Land Trust network is hosted by the National Housing Federation and funded using money from CLG’s empowerment fund. The network also provides resources to community groups looking to develop homes in their local area. The seedcorn funding will be made available as part of the new investment framework for delivering new homes. Read more on Inside Housing.

Community Land Trusts

In a speech to the Community Land Trusts Conference, Grant Shapps gave more details on how they might work. Key points were;
*Community based housing bodies like CLTs are going to have to work within the same financial constraints as everyone else.
*I want to use your experience to create a model for Local Housing Trusts. We want local people to decide what happens in their community.
*I believe that a community should be able to proceed with developing new homes - where there is strong local support - without specific planning applications.
*LHTs will have to show that they have the overwhelming backing from people living in the area and they will need to meet some basic planning criteria to make their proposals sound.
*I want communities to have the freedom to decide on the type and quantity of housing without restrictions imposed by a centralised planning system.
*Once a new development has been built, Trusts will be expected to invest any financial profits back into the community. The land will remain in the Trust for local benefit forever
*I intend to take the necessary legislation through the forthcoming Localism Bill. I want the first LHTs to be under way as soon as possible.
Read the full transcript of the speech on the CLG website.