The recently released report from the London Assembly Housing Committee shines a light on Housing Co-ops and Community Land Trusts. It’s encouraging to see community-led housing being taken seriously at this level. We appreciate the positive recognition our work has received from the Assembly and the groups we work with.
The full report recommends the Mayor should advocate for and allocate more funding as well as land for CLH projects. It also emphasizes the need to ensure that more Black and minoritised people can bring forward community-led homes.
We welcome the recommendations for increased funding, although we are unsure this will be easy to secure in the current environment. Land is essential for groups pursuing direct development, although we know this a complex and uncertain way for communities to achieve control over their housing, and even more so for marginalised communities.
To see real growth in community led housing, we believe new approaches like Collective Ownership are essential. We are currently working with experts to establish the Collective Ownership Society as a scalable vehicle for long-term investment that addresses the instability and disempowerment faced by private renters.
We encourage the Mayor and Assembly, as well as third-sector funders and investors, to get behind Collective Ownership and make day-to-day control and security, easier to access.