Who benefits from community led housing schemes?

Local authority support for specific community-led housing schemes is likely to depend on whether they are able to deliver homes which fit with their housing strategies and these usually include meeting priority housing needs, ensuring affordability and, in some cases, diversifying the housing market.

Community-led housing schemes can and do involve a range of tenures that meet different local housing needs and affordability targets. These can include:

  • Renting, including social rent and affordable rent, let at between Local Housing Allowance (LHA) levels and 80% of a market rent
  • Mutual home ownership and co-operative ownership and rental
  • Intermediate housing, including shared ownership, shared equity and discounted market sale
  • Market homes, for example to increase the options for older people downsizing

Many community-led schemes contain a mix of tenures, ensuring that they benefit a range of community housing needs. These include:

  • Households on local authority housing registers and in housing need
  • Households that cannot afford open market home ownership
  • Children of local residents who want to stay in their home town
  • Older people wanting to move nearer to support networks, downsizing or living in communities that provide mutual support
  • Younger people and care leavers
  • Unemployed people getting training opportunities as well as housing
  • Vulnerable people needing support or who might find holding down a tenancy challenging
  • People on low incomes but also people who have assets to contribute to development costs

Case study examples of community-led schemes that meet one or more of these housing needs can be found throughout the Toolkit. A full list can be found in About the Toolkit

 


Last updated in April 2018