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Last month Jeff and Huw had a meeting with our MP to update him on our activities, understand his view on CLTs and ask for an update on the status of the Government’s Community Housing Fund, CHF, which is a matter of great importance not just to us but CLTs in Herefordshire and nationally. Mr Norman informed us he was enthusiastic about community-led initiatives, including CLTs; would be willing...

Andy Johnson visited Bunker Hill Co-operative Self-Build project in Brighton in consort with Brighton and Hove CLT.   I met with Martyn Holmes from Bunker Hill on site. He is happy to maintain contact (bunkerselfbuild@gmail.com), and would like to hear how HCLT gets on in future. (He’s doing a PhD on community development.) The site is that of an ex council-owned garage block which is being...

Trusts have issued a plea to government to save their plans for affordable homes in Herefordshire. By Charlotte Moreau Fownhope Community Land Trust and Hereford Community Land Trust, two community driven organisations whose aim is to build sustainable and genuinely affordable homes in their respective neighbourhoods, fear their plans could be put on hold if the government doesn’t renew a...

Trade Union Unison has produced a well-researched report on England’s housing problems. Key Conclusions:  More new, good quality council and social rented homes  A new definition of affordable housing, linked to people’s incomes rather than market rents  Protection for social rented housing stock  An overhaul to the welfare system, to provide families with adequate support  An overhaul to...

Research by Santander show that the house price inflation has far outstripped the growth in net income, particularly those in the 25-34 age bracket https://www.santander.co.uk/assets/s3fs-public/documents/santander-first-time-buyer-study.pdf As a result,  70% of first time buyers believe that home ownership is now an impossible dream.  

For almost a decade, the government has been selling off public land; hospitals, prisons and ministry of defence land. The current five-year programme has the dual aim of releasing enough land for 160,000 homes by 2020, and raising £5 billion in capital receipts. Ostensibly, the aim of the programme was to help solve the housing crisis. But the government has shown scant interest in the types of...

BBC Briefing on Housing A 185 page report on housing in the UK – see http://news.files.bbci.co.uk/include/newsspec/pdfs/bbc-briefing-housing-newsspec-26534.pdf Extract on Affordable Housing The building rate is increasing, but only a small proportion of new dwellings are affordable (that is, housing subsidised by government or its agencies for people who cannot afford market rates). Despite...

The Affordable Housing Commission The  Affordable Housing Commission, AHC is an independent, non-partisan commission. Set against the backdrop of serious housing affordability crisis the Smith Institute*  with the support of the Nationwide Foundation**, established AHC, chaired by Lord Best with 15 leading players from across the housing world. Over the lifetime of the Commission, it will be...

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said a new generation of homeowners will be able to take their first step on to the housing ladder thanks to the First Homes initiative, under consultation until April, cutting the cost of some new homes by a third. The plan is for the First Homes to see a discount locked into the property to ensure more first-time buyers benefit in years to come. It’s hoped that...

Who is Christopher Pincher – the new Housing Minister – the UK’s 10th in the past decade? Born in Walsall, he became MP for the West Midlands constituency of Tamworth in 2010, having first joined the Conservative Party in 1987. The 50-year-old MP brings with him a variety of experience. After studying history at the London School of Economics, he spent the first 18 years of his career working...