Research launched today by the Community Land Trust Network has found that over 12,000 community-led homes could be built if the chancellor commits £65 million of new funding in October’s spending review.
Jointly funded by the Nationwide Foundation and Power to Change, the research considered the state of England’s community-led housing pipeline and asked what funding would be required to unlock the much-needed homes. In findings from Dr Tom Archer and Catherine Harrington, the required figure for next year was £65 million; a relatively small sum compared with the wider housing budgets set by the Ministry for Housing, Communities and Local Government.
This joint funding was granted through the Nationwide Foundation’s Backing Community-Led Housing programme, which seeks to strengthen and empower community groups to deliver homes where they’re wanted, needed and at prices local people can truly afford.
Tom Chance, CEO of the Community Land Trust Network, commented:
“The Community Housing Fund has been a tremendous success story for the government, more than tripling the number of homes in development. We are already seeing high demand for the £4m allocated this year. Expanding the fund to run alongside the Affordable Housing Programme will help new community-led providers build additional homes, diversifying local markets and giving communities direct involvement in housebuilding up and down the country.”
Leigh Pearce, Chief Executive of the Nationwide Foundation which co-funded the research, said:
“We’ve been working with the community-led housing sector for over a decade, and in that time, we’ve seen the huge difference that projects can make to communities.
We welcomed the £4m for the Community Housing Fund announced last year, however, it’s now time for sustained, long-term funding, so that this pipeline can be unlocked. Only then will the homes currently stuck in the system be built, providing much-needed, truly affordable homes.”
Further details on this funding and our ongoing work with the Community Land Trust Network can be found here.