Self Help Housing

Latch launch innovation training project

admin — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 15:20:26 +0000

. Latch housing project in Leeds are running an innovative Lottery funded project which provides training for young people in construction skills. The Hands On Project now has its own website: www.handson.latch.org.uk which describes the way in which the project works and their achievements to date. You can also visit the Latch case study to find out more about the whole organisation.

Self help housing part of the solution - New Start blog

admin — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 15:27:48 +0000

Self Help Housing.org’s Director, Jon Fitzmaurice, responds to news of government funding to deal with problems caused by empty properties with a blog post on how self help housing can help tackle anti-social behaviour.

Government cash to get empty homes back into use

admin — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 15:43:34 +0000

Housing Minister John Healey has announced funding to help councils tackle empty property and anti-social behaviour. £1million will be made available to 17 councils where anti-social behaviour focused around empty properties has been identified by local residents as a problem. The funding will be used to train council staff in getting empty homes back into use.

Jon Fitzmaurice, Director of Self-Help-Housing.org said: “This is a welcome move on the part of Government, but is limited to only seventeen local authorities and fails to build on, or support, the work of existing community based self help housing initiatives. We will be approaching John Healey to raise these issues “

New case study - Odu-Dua Housing Association and TSHG

admin — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:43:42 +0000

A new case study describing how a community based housing association, set up to meet the housing needs of young black people in Camden has been able to use Temporary Social Housing Grant to cover the cost of repairing properties on loan from the local authority. To find out all about Temporary Social Housing Grant and how to get it, look at our Guide which appears under our How It’s Done section. Read case study.

MOD criticised over empty properties

admin — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 17:29:11 +0000

Almost 8,000 homes for Armed Forces families are standing empty despite the Ministry of Defence spending £17m a year renting substitute properties reports Housing News.

New Case Study - B4Box - Greater Manchester

admin — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 16:11:00 +0000

The latest in our series of Case Studies of self help housing projects from around the country. B4box delivers quality building services to local authorities and other property owners in Greater Manchester and at the same time guarantees to employ and train a high volume of local people. Click here to read more.

Grassroots Grants

admin — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 13:09:31 +0000

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Third Sector reports that the Government’s Grassroots Grants scheme has paid out £34million in its first year. Nearly 13,500 grants worth an average of £2,500 were distributed to community groups between September 2008 and September 2009. For details of how to apply for a grant, click here.

Number of long-term empty private homes above 300,000

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:44:43 +0000

Regen.net reports that the number of private homes standing empty for more than six months has risen above 300,000 for the first time in five years.

Call for action during Empty Homes Week

admin — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 16:40:06 +0000

The National Week of Action on Empty Homes will run from November 22-29. The week is organised by the Empty Homes Agency to highlight the growing crisis of empty homes in the face of housing need.

The Empty Homes Agency estimates that numbers of empty homes across the UK has reached one million for the first time in more than a decade. Amazingly the figures may be an underestimate, as government does not reveal how many empty homes it owns itself.

At the same time half a million families live in overcrowded conditions. House building has slowed to the lowest rate since the 1920s. The Empty Homes Agency will show how the country’s housing crisis could be eased by a concerted effort to turn empty properties into homes.

The Empty Homes Agency will be calling on the government to disclose details of its own empty property, and will be highlighting what people can do to get publicly owned empty homes into use. It will also be highlighting how communities are already making new homes out of empty property.

The Empty Homes Agency’s chief executive, David Ireland, told self-help-housing.org: “The most effective action to bring new life to empty homes is nearly always that driven by the community in which the homes lie. The very best examples of these are housing cooperatives and self-help agencies. Not only do they develop homes, they help people develop their own skills and talents. It’s a great way for people to litteraly help rebuild their communities. We are calling on the government to properly recognise the extraordinary work these organisations do and allow them to compete for housing funding in the same way as registered housing associations.”

Early Day Motion on Empty Homes

admin — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:02:15 +0000

Conservative Shadow Housing Minister Grant Shapps tabled an early day motion noting that of the 784,000 homes which are currently vacant, 327,000 have been empty for a period of more than six months; despite the presence of 1.8 million families on the social housing waiting list.

The motion calls for an end to Empty Dwelling Management Orders (EDMOs) and the adoption of a less bureaucratic approach to the use of empty dwellings.

The motion can be read here: http://edmi.parliament.uk/EDMi/EDMDetails.aspx?EDMID=39460&SESSION=899