interested?

Read a two minute introduction to the rural housing crisis. Find out how a shortage of affordable housing impacts on key workers, including agricultural workers. WATCH Push - a film about how global finance is funding the housing crisis and making cities unaffordable for ordinary people.

READ Home Truths : The UK's chronic housing shortage - readable, thoughtful and ultimately hopeful.

READ how high housing costs can trap people in poverty - and how a new generation of social and affordable housing can loosen the grip of poverty on the Joseph Rowntree Foundation website.

Choose further reading from a comprehensive review of the literature prepared by the House of Commons Library.

Community Land Trusts

Community land trusts (CLTs) are democratic, non-profit organisations that own and develop land for the benefit of the community. They typically provide affordable homes, community gardens, civic buildings, pubs, shops, shared workspace, energy schemes and conservation landscapes.

Started in the USA, CLTs are now a worldwide movement with over 175 active trusts in the UK. Watch a short film about the housing crisis and the role of community land trusts.

Find out more about CLTs on the Community Land Trust Network website and watch another inspiring short film, this time about High Bickington Community Property Trust’s successful projects.

Read on for more examples in rural areas in southern England, including just seven miles away in Thame.

two devon villages

Chagford residents formed a community land trust in 2008 to provide housing for local people unable to afford the usual high rents. The development of 22 homes included small business units also available on favourable terms.

Christow Community Land Trust’s initial aim was to provide affordable housing for people with a strong local connection. This was achieved in 2017 with the completion of 18 homes. These houses are mostly for rental and are managed by Teign Housing Association.

a Self build project

This project provided six affordable homes in Broadhempston, Devon. The all-up cost of each home was around £140,000; about one third of the cost of equivalent sized homes in the village.

The drainage, slab and basic timber shell were constructed by contractors, with the homes being roofed, clad externally and fully fitted out by local people who all committed to work at least 20 hours a week.

The land was acquired at agricultural values, and is now owned by a CLT. To secure planning permission for the development the council treated it as an ‘Exception Site’, which means the properties are classified as ‘affordable’ and if they are ever sold the value is capped at 80 per cent of the market value.

Work in progress

When a housing needs surveys established a need for 1-2 bedroom affordable houses, Georgeham Parish (also in Devon; it’s all happening there!) set up a steering group to explore the options. This led to the formation of a CLT late in 2019. A year later, a suitable site was found and public consultation began. The questions and concerns raised by local residents are very interesting.

Success story

Beer Community Land Trust (“Owned by the community, for the community”) achieved its primary aim back in 2015; the provision of seven affordable home. Funded by loans, grants and donations, all the properties were sold or rented at 80% of the prevailing market prices to people with local connections living and working in the area. More significantly, two of these houses have since been allocated to second owners/renters under the same conditions.

Beer CLT is now working on its second project; a development of six homes - including two flats for elderly or disabled - on the site of a non-viable social club.

closer to home

Thame Community Land Trust was founded in 2018 by a group of Thame residents with the goal of building genuinely affordable housing to buy or rent;

• homes which meets the needs of local people

• homes which make it easier to live well on less

• homes for those unable to access homes through open market or current social housing

• homes which keep local families together and to encourage intergenerational support and living.

Collaborative Housing

Collaborative Housing provides advice and support to communities across the Thames Valley enabling them to plan, fund and build their own homes, or work in partnership to do so. The Collaborative Housing Hub connects local groups with housing experts and sources of funding, advices on all aspects of housing projects, and advocates and liaises with authorities.

First step? A Housing Needs Survey

A Housing Needs Survey can:

• raise awareness about community-led housing

• galvanise local interest in joining a community-led housing group

• explore levels of interest in different types of community-led housing approaches

• help find out whether residents would support a community-led housing scheme

• identify housing need that is not captured on Local Authority housing registers

• Identify households who have had to move out of a parish due to difficulties in finding
  a suitable home locally

• help the community understand why there is a local housing need

There is a strong argument for every community carrying out a Housing Needs Survey, regardless of whether or not they have a vision of community-led housing. Understanding and knowing ones area through the gathering of objective data could be seen as part of the duty of care of all local councils. Read the Thame Housing Needs Survey Report (2022).