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‘New Solutions for Housing and Regeneration’
Centre for Housing Research
University of St Andrews
4 July 2013
SEMINAR NOTES
Bringing ‘community’ building
into the mainstream : mixing old
tenures for a new paradigm
Dr Martin Field
Institute for Urban Affairs, University of Northampton
[email protected]
1
Prevailing paradigm : ‘individualistic investment’
Paradigmatic features :
• Currently @ 69% of UK residential property is
owner-occupied
• PRS fastest growing sector investment vehicle,
but note annual 7 - 10% of ‘self build’ properties
as accumulative % of new properties
• 85% of respondents still see ‘home ownership’
as prime priority
• Less than 10,000 properties ‘co-operatively
owned / managed’ from @ 24 million in UK
(www.cds.coop)
• Approximately 250 properties in Land Trusts –
500+ projects; 200+ Cohousing dwellings.
___________________________
Source: Community Project,
Sussex
Paradigmatic refrain:
‘Housing’ happens wherever we build it…..
We can build it if you invest in us…..
You can invest in us if you believe in us …..
To believe in us just see what we have done …..
What we’ve done is down to our skills …..
Our skills are down to our planning …..
Our planning is down to our business …..
Our business is building…..
Our building happens to be ‘housing’……
___________________________
Source: Community Project, Sussex
2
Contemplating the ‘mutual’ characteristic
Story 1a : Engagement and support
• Keen interest in mutual values : equity, equality
and inclusion
• Headlining reports and National Action Plans (x2)
• Mutual Sector liaisons / self build success
• New DCLG ‘Loan fund’ / local authority sector
loans / guarantees
___________________________
Story 2a : Niche and fragmentary
• Principally
Source: Thundercliffe Grange, Yorkshire
seen as co-ops and ‘social housing’
• Some schemes too ‘middle class’ for state support
• New groups ‘high risk’ : no post-recession bail-out
funds; DCLG ‘Loan’ funds to developers
• Expensive / political / limited in scale / self-serving
___________________________
Source: Cannon Frome, Herefords
3
Paradigm constraints for ‘mutual’ development
Institutional and household views
Conventional focus on perceived ‘risks’
Marginal financial routes for UK growth
Limits to current appeal of ‘mutual’ options :
- ‘Co-operatives’ for equality, but usually zero
‘private’ ownership.
___________________________
Source: Ashley Vale, Bristol
-‘Cohousing’ for purchases and facilities, but
may have zero AH and end up as speculative.
-‘Community Land Trusts’ for accountability but
spectrum is from paternalism to self-help
Demand currently imprecise: research on ‘self
build’ appetites - Plymouth, York (x2), Sheffield
___________________________
Source: Ashley Vale, Bristol
4
The need for a new paradigm
Issues for a new paradigm to address
• Appetite for UK owner-occupation not
diminished / limited interest in traditional
‘shared ownership’, or long-term rent
• ‘Mutuals’ as means to overcome UK market
excess : costs / alienation / poor design
• Many ‘mutual’ groups supportive of mixing
ownership and rental occupancies
___________________________
Source: East Winns, Findhorn
• Prepared to secure ‘affordability’ and provide
‘affordable housing’
• Current lead-in demands accentuate ‘risk’ :
long times, uncertain sites, difficult funding; little
familiarity with collaborative processes in UK
___________________________
Source: East Winns, Findhorn
5
Mixing old tenures for something new
Key elements for a new paradigm
• Community ‘freehold’ / long leaseholds & long
rental tenancies / resale & re-let covenants
• Positive support for sustained ‘affordability’
• Mortgages finance via ‘High Street’ lenders /
options for ‘community (crowd) funding’
• Affordable Housing provision, & access to
Registered Provider status and grant
___________________________
Source: Springhill, Stroud
• Options for rent-to-equity
• Direct local accountability
• Single utilities and common costs
• Rights to acquire land
• Political support for insertion within market
frameworks (finances, viabilities, etc.)
___________________________
Source: Springhill, Stroud
6
New paradigm : ‘investing in neighbourhoods’
Potential options for a new paradigm
(a) ’Mutual ownership’ – LILAC
(b) New ‘custom build’ tenure
(c) Collaborative ‘bond’ finances
(d) Creating a spectrum of ‘Land Trusts’
(e) Joint private–community partnerships
___________________________
Conclusion
Source: LILAC, Leeds
Expand role of ‘Land Trusts’ as basis for
mainstreaming complementary
approaches to collaborative projects:
Community Land Trusts
Co-operative Land Trusts
Cohousing Land Trusts
‘Custom Build ‘Land Trusts
___________________________
Source: LILAC, Leeds
7
Putting the new paradigm in place …..
Good neighbourhoods happen when
people demand them .....
To show ‘demand’, people have to come
forward ....
To come forward, people must believe
they could succeed ....
To believe, people need inspiration ....
Inspiration needs practical examples .....
Examples need imagination and creativity
.....
Creativity must fashion frameworks ....
Frameworks need to be embedded in local
communities .....
Communities grow from neighbourhoods.
___________________________
Source: Forge Bank, Lancaster
___________________________
Source: Forge Bank, Lancaster
8
Key Reports
Bringing Democracy Home’ (2009)
Commission on Co-operative and Mutual
Housing, UK
Action Plan to Promote Growth of Self Build
Housing’ (DCLG / NaSBA, 2011)
Centre for Housing Policy (2013) : “Build-ityourself? : understanding the changing
landscape of the UK self-build market”,
University of York
‘Policy Exchange (2013) : “A Right to Build”,
London, UK
___________________________
Source: Threshold Centre, Dorset
National Self Build Association (2013) : “How
the public sector can help people build their
own homes”, (www.nasba.org.uk)
‘Mutual Housing Group’
(http://mutualhousinggroup.coop/) :
Report of the ‘Land and Society Commission’
(2011), Royal Institute of Chartered
Surveyors, London, UK
___________________________
Source: Threshold Centre, Dorset