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.”

New case study – St Mark’s Housing Co-operative

St Mark’s Housing Co-operative provides affordable housing for 30 members on low or irregular incomes in West London and parts of East London. They take on temporarily vacant properties from local housing providers, often in a state of disrepair, clean and decorate where necessary, and use them to house members on a short life basis, for a minimum of six months and often for much longer. Full case study here.

Self help housing charity enters new PHASE

The South London charity formerly known as Advocates for the Homeless has relaunched as ‘PHASES’ (People, Housing and Social Enterprise Scheme). Over the past four years it has concentrated on developing construction training projects linked to empty property. Project manager Glenn Heaton said: “The change of name better reflects what we are about and the fact that we now help a wide range of marginalised people.” The charity’s most recent renovation, in Peckham, will feature on the BBC series ‘Britain’s Empty Homes’ in early 2011.

Read more about PHASES.

HCA debate on Empty Property

The Homes and Communities agency is hosting a debate on empty property on their Showcase website. The debate ‘How  do we maximise the use of empty homes?’ runs from 12th July – 30th and aims: “to address key challenges that local authorities face, highlight innovative practice and generate practical solutions to help the sector bring more empty homes back into use”. The Showcase website features a series of films from housing experts – including Canopy Co-ordinator, Steve Hoey – designed to spark debate around the issues involved in bringing empty homes back into use.

Community Campus feaured in New Start

Middlesborough-based self help housing organisation, Community Campus ’87, are the subject of a feature in the latest edition of leading regeneration magazine, New Start. The organisation was set up in 1987 in response to the housing crisis facing people aged 16 to 24 in northeast England and has since provided housing for more than 5,000 people. In the feature, New Start‘s Jill Theobald talks to Community Campus co-founders, Carl Ditchburn and Simon Virth, about over 20 years of successful work and the looming challenges from cuts in public spending. The New Start e-zine also featured a case study of a Community Campus volunteer.

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