There are four main models of Community Led Housing (CLH):
Cohousing
Community land trusts
Cooperative housing
Self-help housing
Below we briefly explore each of these and the ethos of community self-build.
1. Cohousing
Cohousing brings people together to share common experiences, resources and aims, along with communal space, while also providing high-quality personal space. This idea has since been embraced around the world as a sustainable alternative to the individualistic culture of much of Western Society, which encourages connection to neighbours and the land.
According to the UK Cohousing Network, there are five principles that define co-housing. These are that they:
Are designed with members of the intended community;
Provide private and common facilities;
Are of a size and scale appropriate to support community dynamics;
Give residents control of decision making; and
Are inclusive and a part of the wider community.
How does cohousing work?
All cohousing communities are created and run by their residents. They consist of private homes and flats that are connected by a shared community space. All facilities are communal, and residents are responsible for maintaining their shared resources. Decisions are made democratically, and each household is given a say in voting matters.
The establishment of a cohousing community often begins with forming a group, creating a vision, and determining financial capacity along with suitable sites. Once a design, community rulebook and business plan are created, the group can seek planning permission to begin construction. Local authorities, charities and businesses may also assist in the creation of these communities.
See the UK Cohousing Network’s website for more information.
2. Community land trusts
Community land trusts (CLTs) are democratic, community-led and non-profit organisations that own, develop, and maintain land assets for their local communities. While many CLTs are created to address housing affordability in local communities, they can also develop meeting spaces, energy sources, services, shops, farms and a wide range of other types of social infrastructure. CLTs build these assets to be affordable and hold them in trust so that they remain so for future occupiers. Communities then act as the long-term stewards of these establishments.
The features of CLTs include that they:
Take ownership of land
Are variable sizes
Can concern homes, businesses, communal land, energy schemes
Prioritise community wellbeing and control
Retain long term stewardship of homes and assets
How do community land trusts work?
Community land trusts are fundamentally formed of partnerships. These can be through individuals, landowners, developers, housing associations, or local authorities. These partnerships have a membership structure that is open to anyone who lives or works in the local area, whether or not they live in the properties the trust provides. A central concern in the management of a CLT is ensuring that the ownership of the shared resource is for the common good of the community rather than for the benefit of an individual.
See the National CLT Network’s website for more information.
3. Co-operative housing
A housing cooperative is an organisation that provides housing while being jointly owned and controlled by its members. Such co-ops are similar to housing associations, since they own the land as legal entity. However, they differ as they are directly managed by their tenants, who are usually required to be members, and their governance consists entirely of such members.
Residents at housing cooperatives can either share a housing unit or live in individual housing units that are in close proximity to one another.
How does cooperative housing work?
Housing cooperatives can take several different forms, but must be registered at the Financial Services Authority’s (FSA) Registrar of Friendly Societies to allow for them to lease or purchase real estate. This allows for members to pay rent or contribute to a mortgage for the co-op in order to live within its housing facilities. In most common form of housing co-op, members collectively own the homes they develop, and rent them back to tenant members.
Members can be responsible for maintaining its facilities and, in some cases, household tasks such as cooking are shared between members.
See the Confederation of Co-operative Housing’s website for more information.
4. Self-help housing
Self-help housing is when a group of people bring properties that are currently vacant back into use, typically for the short term. This can be used to provide temporary housing for people who are in need of shelter and on low incomes. There are two approaches to self-help housing. Both require volunteers to refurbish the property:
Purchase and refurbishment: the cost of acquisition and refurbishment must be covered by the organisation.
Lease and refurbishment: the group only needs to cover the cost of renovation. This is ideal when a long-term project is not viable due to lack of funding or other constraints.
Self-help housing projects offer many benefits to their local communities such as: using empty buildings, creating a new source of housing/facilities, improving neighbourhoods, engaging communities, supporting social enterprises and promoting the learning of new skills.
How does self-help housing work?
Self-help housing properties are borrowed on the basis of a licence or a lease from the current property owners. There are five steps that are typically taken during the conception stage of self-help housing.
Property identification
Set up a project and a proposal
Acquire funding
Organise repairs
Agreements between occupiers and landlords.
In-house skills are relied on during these processes.
See here for more information on this model.
5. Community self-build
The ‘self-build’ approach is essentially an ethos that shapes communities’ approaches to the other models described here. It entails members organising themselves to build their own homes and communities together. They can be led by either those planning to live in them or by organisations that want to assist in creating the community.
At its core, community self-builds consist of ‘ordinary’ people that work together to learn new skills and develop their communities. Such projects focus on utilising and developing skills within the community as opposed to acquiring labour from outside sources.
As an overall approach to housing delivery, self-build is relatively common in Northern Ireland. Some self-build projects entail the residents taking responsibility for the design, project management and build of their plots. Other models train residents to take on specific tasks to bring down the overall build costs. The principle is therefore adaptable to different sites and communities.
See the Self Build Portal for more information on how deliver such a project.
Read and download the full report ‘Community Led Housing in Northern Ireland: Take back the city’
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