Start building homes your community needs
Get together to build housing that your local community wants and needs. Learn more about community led housing in the Craven district. Funding available now.
The Princes Countryside Fund provides an interesting read about rural communities.
What is community led housing?
- community led housing is designed and managed by local people and built to meet the needs of the community, not for private profit
- community led housing comes in many forms; most often a Community Land Trust (to develop and manage homes). Community Trusts may already exist, running other community assets such as village shops and pubs. If not, funding and/or legal expertise is available to help form a group
- community led housing can keep schools and local facilities open and help keep existing communities together by providing affordable dwellings to rent or buy that the community needs
What is the Community Housing Fund?
- national allocation of £60m per year for five years for community led housing
- Craven District Council allocated an initial £606,000
- it's a bottom up approach. Communities decide where and what they want
How does it work?
- anybody can get together to deliver community led housing - the PTA, the Parish Council or simply like-minded people who want to help their community
- a community group can develop the site itself or choose to work with a housing association. It will keep control of the homes, initially choosing their tenure, size, scale and then future allocation policies for the homes
- a community group would get an income from the homes
What is the initial £606,000 funding for?
- as a start-up fund to help communities establish themselves as Trusts
- feasibility studies, promotion, housing needs studies etc
- legal advice, professional fees
- land acquisition, development costs
- anything else that a community needs to deliver a scheme
Are you interested?
Contact Andrew Carruthers at Craven District Council for more information by emailing acarruthers@cravendc.gov.uk OR contact your local Community Led Hub