Success stories
Different locations. Different people. Different challenges. Different solutions.
It sounds like a cliche. But no community led housing project is the same.
How could they be? Each group is made up of unique people, on unique plots of land or in response to a particular situation or opportunity.
In this section, you'll find a selection of case studies which are intended to provide you with helpful information to inform and inspire your own plans.
Community led housing schemes
Find out what life can be like in a community led housing scheme and how it differs from 'the norm'.
It Takes a City, Cambridge
The Start Up Support Programme helped a group of local residents in Cambridge come together to address homelessness.
See for: Start Up support, homelessness
Goodwin Development Trust
The community-controlled Goodwin Development Trust provides an array of services, including affordable housing, for the benefit of local people.
See for: Registered Providers, modular homes
Granby Four Streets CLT
This Turner Prize winning community land trust is a truly inspiring story of people-powered housing.
See for: urban regeneration, community participation
Lancaster Cohousing
Forgebank is Lancaster Cohousing's multi-award winning eco cohousing community in Halton, Lancashire.
See for: intentional communities, eco homes
LILAC
LILAC is a hybrid - a cohousing development that is a legally constituted co-operative society.
See for: Low impact living, Mutual Home Ownership
Personal stories
Find out why people are turning to community led housing and how it is transforming lives.
Val - London Older Lesbian Cohousing
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.
Read Val's story
Amanda - Bristol Community Land Trust
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.
Read Amanda's story
Janet - Older Women's Cohousing
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.
Read Janet's story
Jane - On the Brink Cohousing
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.
Read Jane's story
