Amanda, 50, moved into Fishponds Road, a community land trust development in Bristol in May 2016. To get a discount off her monthly rent Amanda worked with her neighbours to ‘self-finish’ her one-bed home. Amanda has a partner but they choose to live separately.
I was really struggling when I was living in private rented accommodation. It felt very insecure for me, I was paying £600 a month rent in Bristol and barely surviving.
The place was damp, it was in poor repair and it was costing me every single penny I had. My mental health was suffering because of the insecurity I felt. The uncertainty just wasn’t good for me and didn’t work at all.
I was more and more anxious about the future.
Then I heard about Bristol CLT and I thought maybe this would be a good thing for me.
I met my partner just before I got offered my CLT home but we don’t live together. We prefer to have our own spaces. Plus my home is a one-person space. It feels really good that at this point in time I don’t have to negotiate the space.
This is the first time I’ve ever had my own real home.
I’ve always lived in privately rented accommodation where I might have to move on and can’t make my mark on the place and I can’t really make it mine. You’re not in your own home really. I’m quite a creative person and I like to have my own bits and bobs all over the walls and that suits me. I like to express myself through my home, that’s quite important to me.
Having been through the mill a bit and a lot of life stuff, I’m really happy to be where I am now.
Read more stories of lives transformed by community led housing
Janet Wood, 73, has lived in North London her whole life. She spent forty years in the same rented council flat until moving to a flat at New Ground Cohousing in January 2017. She has lived alone for over ten years after her daughter moved out.
Jane, 61, moved into her flat within On the Brink Cohousing in May 2018. She has been single since she was 40 and brought up her son on her own in a terraced house in Sheffield.
Val Eugenia, 52, lives in Ealing, West London. She has lived on her own since her last relationship ended nearly a decade ago. Val is a member of London Older Lesbian Cohousing which is hoping to build 25 homes in North East London.
Community Led Homes is a partnership project between the Confederation of Co-operative Housing, Locality, the National Community Land Trust Network and UK Cohousing . These organisations work together to make it easier for communities to access support and build a lasting community led housing movement.
