Funding For Self-Help Housing On The Way………

Earlier this year the Co-alition announced a £100m Empty Homes Programme as part of  the Homes & Communities Agency’s Investment Programme, with the intention of  bringing  3,300 empty homes back into use between 2012 and 2015. 

 Over the past few months, negotiations have been taking place  around how this funding can be made accessible to community led housing organisations.  News of  how this is going to work will soon be published as part of the Co-alition’s Empty Homes Strategy and thereafter organisations will be invited to bid for funding. Bidding is expected to open in September and close in January 2012. The programme will start as from April 2012

Further details will appear on this site once the Strategy has been published. However, if you want to receive details directly about how it will work and how to bid, or or simply find out more in the meantime, then Email  self-help-housing@agents-for-change.com

Housing Action Saxmundham

Housing Action is a social enterprise working across Suffolk and Norfolk in the East of England, supporting and housing both individuals and families most in need.  It is pioneering a number of innovative and cost effective ways of bringing empty homes back into use. click here to read the case study.

New Report Endorses Self-Help Housing

The Government should actively promote community groups who are working with local people to bring empty properties back into use, and make existing funding available to them. These recommendations come from a report released by the Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF) into ‘self-help housing’. The report highlights how self-help housing can contribute to a number of government aims, such as increased localism, addressing the blight of empty homes, and building a Big Society of active community participation.

Read it here:  Self-Help Housing- Supporting Locally Driven Housing Solutions

Grant Shapps Calls For More Self-Help Housing Projects

 

Grant Shapps has recently called for more self-help housing projects and endorsed the work of Canopy and Self-Help Housing.Org

 ”GRANT SHAPPS CALLS FOR MORE SELF-HELP HOUSING PROJECTS TO TACKLE HOMELESSNESS

Housing Minister Grant Shapps today said councils will be able to claim extra Government cash by backing pioneering housing schemes that give homeless people training opportunities and a roof over their head, and at the same time bring empty homes that blight neighbourhoods back into use.

The Minister is calling on councils and housing associations to give more support to projects like the Canopy Housing Project in Leeds, which is bringing back into use empty properties, often with the help of homeless people.

Describing this as a win-win for local communities and homeless people, Mr Shapps said backing the excellent work of the self-help schemes, which are providing an invaluable service to the local community, and helping homeless people get their life back on track, also provides clear benefits for councils who will have extra money to spend on the local area. The extra funding will go towards anything the community chooses, whether council tax discounts for residents, better parks and playgrounds, or supporting more schemes to provide training opportunities for homeless people.

The cash incentives for councils through the New Homes Bonus mean for every home that self-help housing projects renovate, the extra council tax will be matched for six years – so if ten typical houses are brought back into use, the council will receive nearly £100,000 of extra funding from the Government.

Self help housing groups negotiate with the owners of empty, boarded up properties to organise whatever repairs are necessary to make them habitable, in return for letting the groups who do the repairs live in the property. These are often homeless people or those who can’t afford to buy their own home, as well as individuals who have not been offered a tenancy by the local council or housing association.

Mr Shapps said:

“The superb work that these housing schemes are already doing shows the scale of what can be achieved when community self-help is combined with cash incentives from the Government. Not only are the empty properties that ruin neighbourhoods being lived in once again, but homeless people are getting a roof over their head and excellent training opportunities that will help them get a job.

“People often ask me what can be achieved through communities working together– well here’s the answer. That’s why I’m calling on councils to back these schemes, because this is a win-win solution for everyone. There are over 700,000 empty properties across the country, covering every corner of our towns and cities – more projects like these will get people into housing, provide valuable employment skills, create better places to live, and at the same time give councils extra cash to tackle homelessness and spend on the local community.” 

The Canopy Housing Project in Leeds is a self-help, community housing project which was started in 1998. It renovates derelict and empty houses to create decent homes for people that are homeless.

The work of Canopy has brought together lots of volunteers from the local community to learn skills, increase confidence, break down barriers and make big improvements to local neighbourhoods. Volunteers come together and help new tenants to paint, decorate and furnish their new home. 

Mr Shapps said anyone who is interested in setting up their own scheme should contact self-help-housing.org, who are the experts at promoting and supporting self-help housing initiatives.

 DCLG Release – EMBARGOED 00.01 SUNDAY 06 FEBRUARY 2011

 

Phoenix Housing Co-op Recruitment

Phoenix is a self-help housing co-op providing housing for single people on low income across Hackney and Tower Hamlets. It’s member-led and  encourages all members to take an active role. The Co-op wants to appoint a Site Manager capable of project managing  the complete renovation of nine flats in East London, whilst supporting the professional and personal development of Housing Plus volunteers and trainees &  an ETE Co-ordinator who can manage and co-ordinate the participation of all volunteers and external trainees in this  renovation project who will take the lead in recruiting and inducting all trainees, providing on-going mentoring support as well as liaising with external ETE providers.

Closing Date  21^st April

Housing Plus Site Manager JDPS April 2011   Housing Plus ETE Co-ordinator April 2011

Self-Help Housing Feature in Guardian Society 2/2/10

This week’s Guardian Society includes a feature on self- help housing, looking  at three projects in different parts of the country which have recently featured in the research undertaken the Third Sector Research Centre.

” Now that there’s growing interest in the value community driven self-help housing projects” said Jon Fitzmaurice ” the next step is to make sure that they receive support and funding they deserve. The Government have set aside £100 m for bringing empty properties back into use and some of this needs to come the way of these organisations. We’re now busy making the case for that to happen”

Click here to read the Guardian article

Success! Project Funded By Temporary Social Housing Grant From The Homes & Communities Agency Gets Underway

Community Campus and East Cleveland Youth Housing Trust are working together with a local housing association to renovate, and bring back, into use ten empty privately owned properties

“Community Campus has undertaken a series of projects with the young involving the renovation of empty properties and creation of social tenancies” said Carl Ditchburn from Community Campus. “This latest project involves working with Coast and Country utilising Temporary Social Housing Grant to create 10 tenancies. This has created an opportunity for a number of unemployed young people to gain a range of construction based skills “.

Click here to read more  or visit HCA News.

£100million for Empty Property in Co-alition Housing Settlement

“Amid all the gloom and doom surrounding funding for social housing, following the Comprehensive Spending Review, it’s encouraging to see £100 million has been earmarked to bring empty properties back into use” said Jon Fitzmaurice ” It’s not yet clear as to how this is going to be spent, but there’s every indication that there will be money available for Temporary Social Housing Grant. It’s an excellent source of funding for self-help housing organisations wanting to renovate empty publicly and privately owned properties  and once the position is clarified we will pass on this information to the network”. To read the Government’s Housing Settlement document click here.

HCA Empty Homes Debate

“The Homes & Communities Agency (HCA) have published the results of their online debate on how best to maximise the use of empty homes” writes Jon Fitzmaurice, Director, Self-Help-Housing.Org. “It’s very encouraging that the HCA decided to highlight empty property in this way and there were a number of interesting posts in support of local community driven organisations being given direct access to Temporary Social Housing Grant from the HCA. We’re told that the Housing Minister, the Rt. Hon Grant Shapps took a personal interest in the debate and one hopes that this message has got through. Time will tell! The document can be accessed here.”

HACT – Golden Projects Competition

To celebrate HACT’s Golden Jubilee, they are running a competition called Golden Projects – a chance to turn a golden idea into reality. They want to support project ideas from tenant, managers or frontline workers that will improve the wellbeing and living conditions of vulnerable people. The projects must be backed by a social housing provider.

10 entries will get the opportunity to become HACT’s pilot projects – with pump priming of £5K per project, expert support and widespread promotion. A larger award of initially £30K will be available for 2 to 3 of the pilot projects to really take off in 2011.

To participate, read the full information pack on http://hact.org.uk/golden-jubilee/golden-projects and send in your project proposal by 4 October 2010.

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