CLH Toolkit

Publication date: 28 August 2019

Organisation: Ecology, HACT, LandAid & Nationwide Foundation

This toolkit was developed by Ecology, HACT, LandAid and Nationwide Foundation to give local authority and housing professionals an in-depth guide to community led housing. 

Even though this guide was written with local authorities and housing professionals in mind, there's plenty of helpful information for community led housing groups as well. Community led housing is a collaborative sector and this guide can help local authorities and groups develop projects to benefit their communities.

A full list of the contents is below.

Housing

1. How Community-Led Housing Schemes Get Going
2. Who benefits from community-led housing schemes?
3. The Government’s Community Housing Fund
4. Assessing housing markets and land availability
5. How to assess need and demand for community-led housing
6. Using CLH to help meet housing delivery targets
7. Scaling up CLH schemes to deliver the numbers
8. Delivering a grass roots community-led housing scheme
9. Delivering a CLH scheme through partnership working
10. Delivering a ‘top down meets bottom up’ CLH scheme
11. Delivering CLH through existing Community Anchor Organisations
12. How to ensure that community-led housing schemes are genuinely affordable - and remain so ‘in perpetuity’
13. Setting up a support hub for community-led housing
14. Sale or transfer of surplus housing association stock to CLH organisations
15. New housing developments through Tenant Management Organisations
16. Where to find specialist support
17. Setting up an informal register of local interest in CLH
18. Local Lettings Policies for CLH
19. CLH Management Agreements

Communities

1. Building internal capacity to support CLH
2. Capacity building for community groups
3. Providing support for CLH business planning and governance
4. Creating Training and Employment Opportunities through CLH
5. Working with the community and voluntary sector
6. Setting up and supporting a regional CLH network

Legal

1. The legal framework for community led housing
2. Procurement and Social Value
3. Asset transfer and divestment
4. Disposing of assets: best consideration and discounted sales
5. Dealing with State Aid
6. Long-term Leases for CLH schemes
7. Option Agreements and Legal Charges
8. Choosing a legal structure for asset transfers
9. Charity Commission guidance
10. The role of Parish and Town Councils
11. Custom and Self Build Registers

Planning

1. Policies in Local Plans and Supplementary Planning Documents
2. Planning Guidance
3. Section 106 and Commuted Sums
4. Rural Exception Sites
5. Neighbourhood Planning and Community-Led Housing
6. Revolving Land Banks
7. Delivering CLH through local authority development companies

Finance

1. Revenue grants and loans for CLH
2. Capital grants and loans for CLH
3. Establishing a Community Housing Fund grant policy
4. Using Right to Buy Receipts to support CLH initiatives
5. Revolving Loan Funds
6. Crowd funding and community shares
7. Local Authority Lending & Prudential Borrowing
8. Local Authority funding for CLH groups with no assets or track record
9. Mortgage lending for CLH home ownership schemes