community led housing london

resource and advice hub

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East Wick Sweetwater

An opportunity for a community led housing organisation to deliver 16 affordable homes within the Hackney Wick town centre boundary as part of the East Wick neighbourhood in Hackney.

East Wick + Sweetwater Projects (EW+S) is the development partner for the London Legacy Development Corporation (LLDC), delivering over 1,850 new homes across 7 phases, on the western edge of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park as part of the wider Legacy Community Scheme. This community led opportunity already has outline permission for 16 homes and two non-residential units, and forms part of the 34% of affordable homes on the site.

 Visit the EW+S website for further information on the opportunity and the Expression of Interest form.

Gida Housing Co-op

Gida Housing Co-operative was incorporated 2021 in direct response to the poor quality of private rented housing experienced by black and minoritised communities in Tottenham and across London, both in terms of affordability and lack of influence over management and maintenance of their homes.

Gida is the Hausa word for ‘home’ and was birthed from the Ubele Initiative as part of their commitment to Community Wealth Building. The Ubele Initiative is a community organisation which plays a strategic role in supporting Black and Minoritized communities, with long standing commitments in Haringey.

Gida Housing Co-op aims to become an affordable housing provider which empowers under-represented communities and builds social value, by giving people influence and collective control over the management and maintenance of their own homes, as a response to the poor quality and insecure private rented housing many have had to endure. Gida’s values are aligned with Cooperative values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and unity.

Gida is initially focused on the St Ann’s Hospital site with a view to ensuring homes and community spaces create a sense of community for the long term.

How we’re helping
We have supported work on governance, housing allocations, and financial appraisals.

 Visit their website

Felixstowe Road

The Royal Borough of Greenwich released the Felixstowe Road site in Abbey Wood specifically for Community Land Trusts.

Greenwich join a string of boroughs including Tower Hamlets, Waltham Forest, Croydon, and Camden in creating opportunities for community led housing, with several others working on individual schemes.

Cabinet Member for Housing, Cllr Anthony Okereke said “this initiative is part of our pledge to use innovative approaches to develop affordable housing in perpetuity for the borough’s residents and create sustainable communities”.

Greenwich Citizens Housing and London CLT were successful in being selected with designs consisting of 12 homes, including 6 two-storey houses flanked by two three-storey blocks of flats. Every home has a front door onto a pedestrianised ‘play street’.
They also secured the Susan Road sites in Kidbrooke.

How we’re helping
We supported two groups in preparing proposals for the council, and are funding London CLT to progress a planning application with Archio.

 
 Visit their website

Scylla Road

London CLT are looking to provide 100% affordable housing for Southwark residents at Scylla Road in Nunhead.

In 2015, people across Peckham and Nunhead came together through local institutions to discuss the challenges they faced in their daily lives. The lack of affordable housing was one of the most frequently raised, and formed the agenda for a new community alliance, Peckham Citizens, launched in 2016.

Over the next few years, the group negotiated with Southwark Council about supporting CLT homes, considering homes as part of wider council developments, and undertaking a wide-ranging site search across SE15.

Scylla Road was settled upon in 2020. We supported initial feasibility work, and London CLT are now focused on how to deliver genuinely and permanently affordable homes on this site.

They aim to create a distinctive and welcoming place that is good for both local people and the environment, based on an understanding of how the community works. They will bring together ideas on how to improve the site, meet local need, and design homes and public realm that is relevant to the local context.

 Visit their website

Rode Housing Co-op

A small group set up as a fully mutual cooperative aiming to provide housing for themselves and others.

Rode Housing Co-operative comprises architects, housing professionals and community organisers who believe that housing is a public right. The overall aim of the group is to fulfil the housing needs of those involved while simultaneously addressing housing needs in the community. They prepared proposals for rented housing on sites released by Tower Hamlets for themselves and for council nominations.

They are now investigating converting underused properties around London.

How we helped
We provided technical advice on their Tower Hamlets proposals.