Bob Paterson Project Director Community Finance SolutionsUniversity of SalfordRoom 214 Crescent HouseThe Crescent SalfordM5 4WT0161 295 4454www.communitylandtrust.org.uk

Exploring the potential for communities to develop affordable

housing through local trusts

The need for community-led solutions

Community Land Trusts

Changing policy context

• new ‘place shaping’ responsibilities of local government, especially through:– Sustainable Community Strategies– Local Development Frameworks

• new performance framework for local government, delivered through:– Local Area Agreements – Comprehensive Area Assessment

• new ‘duty to involve’ the public (April 2009)– community and third sector engagement– enhanced roles for elected councillors– neighbourhood management– community empowerment (eg transfer of

community assets)

Placeshaping in Rural Communities

CLTs in their ‘place-shaping’ role are often seeking to undertake a degree of social engineering to:-

•enable younger people to afford to stay in an area as they move into employment and form new households.

•enable people with limited ‘equity’ to stay in an area which would otherwise be unaffordable.

•provide a mix of housing tenures to increase overall disposal income in an area to support local services

•sustain a mixed community and hence support local businesses, schools and other public services plus voluntary organisations located in the area.

What are Community Land Trusts

Not for profit organisations which allow the community and other stakeholders to take control of, and manage assets. Community Land Trusts are a flexible concept taking many different legal structures and forms, but they generally have a number of key principles in common. They are a way of acquiring land and property and holding them for the benefit of the community usually for the provision of affordable housing but also for affordable work space and the provision of community facilities and green spaces.

Ingredients for a successful rural CLT project

Community entrepreneurs – lay-led leadership by local people who are committed to making a difference in their community.

• Land availability – this includes exception sites, commuted sums and the transfer of public assets.

• Robust legal models to protect a trust’s assets in perpetuity – there is a need to introduce specific legal frameworks for CLTs if they are to flourish.

• Technical capacity – appropriate human capacity needs to be identified and paid for.

• Funding – resources will be required from the private, public and voluntary sectors.

Delivering Affordable Housing

Intermediate market housing

Social Housing Rent to

purchase models Equity purchase models

Outright Sale

£10,000 £14,000 £18,000 £22,000 £26,000 £30,000

Levels of household income

A typical rural CLT is currently about delivering intermediate market homes but sustainable communities are about more that affordable housing !

ARCO2 Drawing of homes in Buckland Newton, Dorset

Buckland Newton Community Property Trust

CLT National Demonstration Programme to date

• Appraised potential CLTs and held workshops.

• Helped to support cross-party political support.

• Proposed a legal definition for inclusion in the Housing Regeneration Bill.

• Sought to overcome the conflict between CLTs and the provision of the Leasehold Reform Act.

• Facilitated the practical involvement of housing associations and development trusts.

• Promoted the ongoing use of the CLT website and portal www.communitylandtrust.org.uk www.talk.communitylandtrust.org.uk

Reaching the market and achieving scale

Idea Experimentation

(Innovation/Refinement)

Early replication (Innovation/Refinement) Best

practice

StandardisationInfrastructure

building Wide scale

roll-out Scale

CLT National Demonstration Programme Key Issues

• Better general understanding of how to use and value the transfer of public assets

• Recognition that privately owned land is available for local housing schemes.

• A CLT is a powerful localised tool in the ‘placeshaping’ agenda that can be initiated at a community/neighbourhood level.

• CLTs are one of a number of brands• CLTs need a statutory definition to

encourage brand recognition by communities, funders, public sector gatekeepers

• Clarify availability of public grant

St Minver CLT – People

St Minver Self-Build CLT