Set up in 2011 by the Homes and Communities Agency’s North East region to stimulate CLH activity through the 2011-2015 Affordable Homes Programme
- The only regional Network in England and Wales currently
- Has nearly 200 members on its database of whom around 50 are regular, active participants, including six local authorities
- Holds quarterly meetings throughout the region, attended by 25-30 individuals, organised by a Steering Group of CLH practitioners, local authorities and housing associations
- Runs regular seminars, covering CLH finance, CLH in rural communities and urban CLH schemes, and an annual conference – the latest one in November 2019 attracting 100 participants
- Has drawn up a regional community-led housing strategy
- Now independent of the HCA and serviced by Community Action Northumberland, a Rural Community Council, with funding raised initially from Network members, but now supported by a substantial grant from Power to Change
Key messages
- Brings together a wide range of organisations and individuals involved in promoting, supporting and developing CLH, including local authorities
- Networks need an organisation to ‘champion’ them in their early stages
- Proactive peer-to-peer learning helps create fertile ground for community-led initiatives and helps to deliver growth in the sector
- A regularly updated database is the key to keeping Networks active/relevant
- Networks can be cost-lite and non-bureaucratic. The NE Network ran for its first four years without funding; annual running costs are now £8500
- Crowd-funding through Network members has helped to provide independence and future sustainability
- Regional networks are an important way for sub-regional enabling hubs to collaborate with each other
Published in March 2018
