Empty Homes Community Grants Programme: DCLG publishes guidance for funding applications

 

On the 25 January, DCLG published the appliction guidance for Community and Voluntary groups applying for funding to bring Empty Homes back into use through the governments Empty Homes Programme.

Tribal who are adminstering the bidding process have now published the application form and further guidance notes.

You can read more about the process and download the full documents from our Empty Homes Community Grants programme bidding page.

Community Grants Programme About To Go Live

The Community Grants Programme is part of the Coalition’s £100m Empty Homes Programme, which runs from 1 April 2012 to 31 March 2015. This will be accessible to community-led-organisations and as part of this funding programme they will not be required to become a registered provider (such as a registered housing association).

The Programme will be between £10m – £30m and bidding is expected to run from late January until the end of March 2012. The size of the programme will depend on the level of demand. Bidding is due to start in late January and will run until the end of March

Self-Help Housing.Org & HACT  are running a series of Briefing Events, aimed at helping community-led-organisations with bidding and securing funding allocations from the Community Grants Programme (CGP).

These regional events will be free of charge and will provide an opportunity to find out as much as possible about the way in which the Programme will work and the arrangements for bidding.  They will be running from 24 January 2012 to 10 February 2012 aroundEngland

 Jon Fitzmaurice, Director of Self-Help-Housing.Org, says, ‘These briefings will provide community-led groups with all the information that they need to bid for funding.  We hope that as many community organisations as possible are able to bring empty properties back into use’.

 For more information about the support that will be available to groups from self-help-housing.org & HACT  visit the Empty Homes Grants pages    

 

The Coalition Publishes Its Empty Homes Strategy

 

On Monday 21^st November the Coalition published  its  housing strategy document “Laying The Foundations: A Housing Strategy For England”

Chapter 5 sets out their Empty Homes Strategy which confirms that the already announced £100m Empty Homes Programme (2012-2015) will be divided into two separate fundingstreams:

The  HCA Empty Homes Programme: Bidding for this programme, to the HCA, is now open and runs until 23^rd January 2012. Community led self-help housing organisation can access the programme, but only via a  partnership with a registered social landlord (eg  a housing association). Further details this programme will appear very shortly on this site, in the section dealing with the Empty Homes Programme.

The Community Grants Programme: Bidding for this programme is currently delayed, pending the appointment of an intermediary agency that will administer it. Community led self-help housing organisations will be able to bid directly in their own right for funding. No date has been set for the commencement of bidding, but the deadline for bids will reflect the delay and is expected to be around late February. The Empty Homes Strategy states that this programme could be as much as £30m, subject to there being sufficient quality bids.

Full details of the CGP and bidding arrangements will appear on this site as soon as they are available.

You can read the full Housing Strategy Document here.

Community Grants Programme & Support For Organisations Wanting To Bid

Communities Minister Andrew Stunell has announced that community groups will be able to apply directly for money from the £100m Empty Homes Programme through a Community Grants Programme:.

“Community and voluntary organisations will now be able to bid for part of £100m Government funding for pioneering housing schemes that will ensure empty properties that ruin neighbourhoods are lived in once again, and at the same time provide affordable housing. Many of these schemes will also have wider benefits such as providing excellent training opportunities for local people….. ……..Community and self help groups will now have the opportunity of applying for financial backing to tackle empty homes, with formal bidding guidance to be published shortly. Previously only conventional housing providers could apply. Community-led schemes are already doing excellent work in this area, as well as providing valuable skills for local people, helping them get a job and a roof over their heads”

 The Department of Communities & Local Government are now in the process of appointing an intermediary body to distribute the funding. This should be completed during November and bidding will start thereafter. The Programme is expected to amount to at least £10m

 Meantime, Tudor Trust has agreed to fund Self-Help-Housing.Org and HACT to run a Capacity Building Programme which will promote the Community Grants Programme to community led organisations and provide support to organisations wanting to bid. A new section will shortly appear on this website which will explain all about the Community Grants Programme  and what help will be available

Bow Arts Trust’s Live/Work scheme

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

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

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