Community-Led Housing: Empowering Local Communities to Solve the Housing Crisis

1. Keith Daintry.tiff HOUSING COMMISSION ON COMMUNITY-LED HOUSING John Montes & Stephen Meah-Sims Croydon Council CCIN STRATEGY SESSION 20 NOVEMBER 2017

2. WHY WE SET UP THE HOUSING COMMISSIONwww.ccinhousing.co.uk • To encourage local authorities to foster co-operative, community-led solutions to the housing crisis • Harness communities’ local knowledge, commitment and resources to create more affordable homes • Focussed on Community-Led Housing (CLH) • DCLG Community Housing Fund - £300m over 5 years • A lot of good work done on the ground by councils • Report based on 47 submissions across UK • A practical focus to enable councils to encourage CLH; case studies show 12 local authority approaches

3. WHAT IS COMMUNITY-LED HOUSING? • Local people play leading, lasting role in solving local housing problem, create affordable homes, strong communities. • New build, empty homes • Different tenures, different income levels • Co-ops, CLTs, TMOs, Cohousing, Self-help (empty homes) • Principles: • Community integrally involved in decisions • Communities take long-term formal role in ownership, management or stewardship • Benefits to local area/specified community are defined and protected • May involve a democratic member org

4. HOW CLH COMES INTO BEING • Group-led • Grass roots group starts up to respond to local need or deliver own homes • Existing community organisations • Move into housing for first time or increase stock • Developer-led • Local authority and housing association partners decide a scheme will be community-led and recruit and develop founder members – ‘top down meets bottom up’

5. WHY COUNCILS SUPPORT CLH 1 • Improve housing supply; permanently affordable homes • Diversify providers, increase choice, small sites • Reduce opposition to development • Support regeneration and return empty homes to use • More commitment to neighbourhoods, catalyst • Empower communities: more sustainable and cohesive • Options for locals; schools, services, business viable • Sustain mixed communities • Involve residents in addressing housing need • Help council bring forward market/affordable housing • Support neighbourhood planning • Enable older/vulnerable to remain independent • Empower tenants to manage homes to a high standard • CLH brings resources into the area

6. WHY COUNCILS SUPPORT CLH 2 • Empower tenants to manage homes to a high standard • High rent collection & satisfaction, tenant voice heard • CLH brings resources into the area • Orgs raise loans, fundraise, provide labour • Social return, use of local labour and supply chains • Engine for economic growth

7. RESOURCES FOR COMMUNITY LED HOUSING • DCLG Community Housing Fund £60m in 2016/17 • Revenue programmes support start-up and pre-development costs • Affordable housing programmes if council or RP/RSL involved • Charitable funding - if community benefit • Social lenders • CLH group funding – loans, community share issues, crowd funding, personal equity, labour

8. HOW COUNCILS SUPPORT COMMUNITY LED HOMES • No one size fits all • Policy: • Leadership • LA policy environment supportive of CLH • Land identified through planning policy • Resources: • Council sites/properties provided through sale, lease or asset transfer • Funding • Enabling support – directly or through partners

9. LEADERSHIP AND A CORPORATE APPROACH • Leadership is key: • Politician – ambition to support CLH • Officer – link up ambition with strategy and processes across the organisation • Policy environment supportive for CLH • Aligning planning, corporate asset management, housing policies to create opportunities for CLH schemes • Housing strategy ensures CLH schemes part of affordable housing delivery • Empty property strategy brings CLH resources on empties • Allocations policy identifies potential members of CLH groups

10. LAND/PROPERTIES • Land made available through planning policy • review of sites suitable for CLH (Brighton, Bristol) • allow development on rural exception sites (East Cambs) • Council assets provided through asset transfer, sale or leasing • Small sites not appealing to larger developers (Brighton, Lewisham) • Transfer empty properties at nil/discounted value (Liverpool) • Leasing site at peppercorn rent (Brighton, Leeds, Lewisham) • If not discounted value: deferred payment/exclusive 1yr option helps • If land designated for affordable housing, CLH group could afford it. • Sales at less than best consideration possible if economic, social or environmental benefits and undervalue <£2m. Alignment of planning, housing and asset management alignment to strategic priorities helps.

11. FUNDING BY COUNCILS • Revenue – start up grants; revolving loans fund for pre-development costs, support for fundraising (E Cambs) • Capital funding grants/revolving loans for purchase/site remediation and construction/property refurbishment (Chichester, Cornwall, Hull, Leeds, Shropshire) • funded by retained RTB (Leeds, Hull), 2nd Homes Council Tax, s.106 and New Homes Bonus (Shropshire) • unlocks sites, enables empty homes to be bought • revolving loan provides up-front capital to buy sites and reduce risk, repaid as new homes sold/transferred (Cornwall, York; North Yorks and East Riding Housing Partnership) • Community Housing Fund has enabled some English authorities to support CLH for first time. • Welsh Government co-operative housing programme includes revenue funding to develop 19 pilot CLH schemes delivered through Welsh Cooperative Centre (Carmarthenshire, Cardiff)

12. ENABLING SUPPORT • Support groups through 5 stages: group formation, site acquisition, planning, building and management • Provided in-house or through national/regional CLH support organisation • Some authorities have helped to set up CLH enabler or umbrella CLTs (E Cambs, Bristol, Cornwall) • Connect new CLH groups with experienced groups • Connect with committed HA to develop new homes • Information exchange on potential sites, empty homes • Guide groups through planning process, supporting funding bids • Raise awareness of CLH in community

13. COUNCILS WITH LIMITED CAPACITY • If council has little capacity to enable CLH: • consider scope for CLH with members, officers, housing partners, third and community sector, with advice from CLH support organisation • Explore whether existing council / housing association scheme could have CLH element – HA with expertise or CLH support org could develop the group

14. PRODUCTS OF THE COMMISSION: REPORT • What CLH is • How CLH supports council priorities • Funding for CLH – and resources it brings • How councils can support CLH • Further guidance and local authority contacts Soon on: www.ccinhousing.co.uk Formal launch 24 Jan 2018

15. PRODUCTS OF THE COMMISSION: CASE STUDIES • Why and how 12 local authorities enable CLH • Examples of local CLH schemes it supported • On http://www.ccinhousing.co.uk/case-studies/

16. COLLABORATION: CLH TECHNICAL TOOLKIT FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIESProject led by Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust (HACT) Resources for officers in legal, finance and planning departments Specialist document templates, process map, examples, advice How to work with local communities to deliver CLH schemes Legal and governance requirements Planning and development issues Funding Available March 2018 HACT regional workshops to launch it www.clhtoolkit.org

17. PRODUCTS OF THE COMMISSION: CLH PLEDGE FOR LOCAL AUTHORITIES According to their local circumstances, councils are encouraged to: • Incorporate CLH into their policy • Define resources for CLH (financial or in kind) • Work with partners to facilitate delivery of one CLH site Template and guidance now on: http://www.ccinhousing.co.uk/make-pledge/

18. WHAT CCIN MAY WISH TO CONSIDER • Grenfell tragedy transformed policy landscape • Social housing green paper ‘top to bottom review’, ‘ensure tenants’ voice is heard’ • Emerging impact of Brexit • Autumn 2017 Budget: • Decision on Community Housing Fund? • Flexibility on local authority funding of social housing? • Government borrowing to build new homes?