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£163m Community Housing Fund Open For Applications
July 19, 2018 by admin
Filed under Latest News
- It’s a £163m government fund which runs from now until 31.3.20
- Phase 1 provides for revenue funding towards the cost of developing projects – including refurbishment projects.
- It’s accessed via Homes England, but you don’t have to be a Registered Provider to be eligible to apply for funding.
- Applications are open until 31.12.19 or until the available funds are committed.
- To be eligible for funding you need to meet the MHCLG definition of what counts as “community led housing” – see Prospectus
- Homes England have nominated contact people in each region to provide advice and guidance on applying listed in the Prospectus
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Power To Change – Community Business Fund
May 1, 2018 by admin
Filed under Latest News
This is has now re-opened with a deadline for applications of 24th May. Once again grants will range from £50k-£300k and can cover both revenue and capital expenditure, although they usually will only fund up to 75% of the cost of the project. Plus, remember that you must meet their definition of a community business. There are a number of projects involving refurbishment of vacant properties that they’ve funded to date and so it could be worth exploring. https://www.powertochange.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Community-Business-Fund-applicant-guidance-Round-5.pdf
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£60m DCLG Community Housing Fund – Coming Up!
December 21, 2017 by admin
Filed under Latest News
On 27th November the Government announced that they are going to invest £60m in Community Led Housing for the next four years – it will be split between capital and revenue funding. At the beginning of January a Prospectus will be published and bids will be invited. Refurbishing empty properties will be eligible for funding, but the money is likely to be routed through the Homes & Communities Agency – which will limit access to organisations registered with them as “registered providers”. However, it may be possible to bid through a local authority. There are going to be other T&Cs but it’s essentially good news. Watch out for details of the Prospectus, at which point t will become clearer who an bid and what for.
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Funding For Start-Up Community Projects
April 10, 2017 by admin
Filed under Latest News
The Community Business Bright Ideas Fund from Power To Change aims to give community groups the support and tools they need to start setting up a community business – which could be a housing project. It also provides early stage finance needed to carry out consultation with local people and feasibility studies to develop a community business idea which the community wants and needs.
The next funding round opens on 19th April 2017. Further details of this and other funding rounds here
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Empty Homes Week 28th November – 2nd December
November 30, 2016 by admin
Filed under Latest News
Call For Another Empty Homes Community Grants Programme To Bring Empty Properties Back Into Use To Meet Housing Need
It’s Empty Homes Week and the Government have just announced an extra £1.4 billion to create additional 40,000 new homes, but there’s no funding to tackle the 200,000 plus existing long-term empty properties, capable of providing much needed accommodation.
“Between 2012-15 the government financed a successful £50m Empty Homes Community Grants Programme( EHCGP) which created 1,500 homes from empty properties. ” said Jon Fitzmaurice OBE Director of Self Help Housing. Org. “Around 100 community based organisations were able to access funding to provide affordable rented accommodation for people in housing need, while at the same time often offering training and employment to local people and contributing to street level regeneration. Furthermore, they collectively raised at least another £26m in loans & grants to supplement the £50m Programme”
“The EHCGP was a game changer for us” said James Hartley, Director of Latch in Leeds.” it enabled us to move from 13 to 34 properties in ownership and has given us a reliable long term rental stream, making us far more financially stable. Plus, we refurbished properties to a really good standard and were able to provide more for training out-of-work volunteers, three of whom have gone on to become self-employed”
Community Campus in Stockton were also able to provide more housing their client group of young people. “The EHCGP enabled us to purchase 22 properties in Teesside ” said Carl Ditchburn, Director of Community Campus “ and we now own 66. Overall, the Programme enabled Campus to extend the training and support we provide for vulnerable young people and to extend our work with other small local community housing organisations”
“For less than 5% of the additional funding that has been announced, there could be another Community Grants Programme which would not only provide housing, but which would also result in a range of valuable social outcomes” said Jon Fitzmaurice.” we surveyed organisations in receipt of funding when the last programme came to an end and identified demand for a further £52m programme, we’re calling on the Government to step forward and put in place another Community Grants Programme”.
Read About What’s Happening Around The Country @ Empty Homes here