Community Land Trusts -What is going on behind the tomatoes?
Stephen Hill
National CLT Board MemberChurchill Fellow 2014-15
DTNI
Garvagh
24th March 2016
The First Enclosures against commoners1792 The first CLT – Enclosure for the Common GoodColton Parish Land Trust
Colton Enclosure Act 1792 proposed by the Bishop of Bangor
‘An Act for enclosing and leasing or letting certain Commons or Waste Grounds lying within
the Parish of Colton, in the County of Stafford, and applying the Profits thereof in Aid of the
Poor's Rates in the said Parish, and for making Exchanges of Lands within the said Parish’
The Latest Enclosures against commoners2015 The first CLT – Enclosure for the Common Good?????Colton Parish Land Trust
further the economic, social and environmental
interests of a local community by acquiring and
managing land and other assets to:
• provide benefit to the local community
• ensure that the assets are not sold or developed except to benefit the local community
Housing & Regeneration Act 2008, Cl. 79
40…
2010A CLT must…
ensure that:
• any profits from its activities will be used to benefit the local community
• individuals who live or work in the specified area have the opportunity to become members of the trust …others can also become members
• the members of a trust control it.
170…
2015A CLT must…
2007 Cornwall CLT Programme 155+ homes completed100+ in the pipeline
Unique partnerships…
enabling district councils, their communities, local landowners,
Carnegie UK Trust & a housing association
St Minver CLT, Rock, Cornwall
Use of private land
not normally available
for housing
by Rural Exceptions Sites
policy for affordable housing
to meet very local needs
St. Minver CLT
Average house price £650,000
Market value £360,000
Cost with land £120,000
Shared Equity 33%
Affordability ‘in perpetuity’
“It’s more important that
I have a home in the place
that I grew up in,
where my family are,
where I work,
than make a lot of money
out of my house”Charlie
Community Leadership and Enabling Partners
• Political lobbying…show, not tell
• CLT Fund ‘See it and Believe It’
• Cornwall Council £4m
Revolving Fund
• Programme momentum
• Capital and revenue cost
recovery
Partnerships around LandAlignment of interests…
CLT
Council
Landowner
Community
Enabling Developer
…doubling the rate of supply in village locations
Champlain Housing Trust - Burlington, Vermont Embedded in Vermont’s political culture since 1770s
“CLTs are the BEST WAY to…”• Spend State Dollars responsibly
• Make homes genuinely affordable for ever
• Protect citizens from predatory lenders
• Prevent lives being ruined by debt
• Rescue failing neighbourhoods
• Build stable new communities
• Win local support for more housing
Senator Bernie
SandersED Brenda Torpy
3500 +
Homes
Vermont Housing & Conservation BoardTwin Goals – Affordable Housing and Sustainable Agriculture
“In the best interests of all of its citizens and in order to improve the quality of life for Vermonters and to maintain for the benefit of future generations the essential characteristics of the Vermont countryside, and to support farm, forest, and related enterprises, Vermont should encourage and assist in creating affordable housing and in preserving the State's agricultural land, forestland, historic properties, important natural areas and recreational lands, and in keeping conserved agricultural land in production and affordable for future generations of farmers.” (State Ordinance)
http://www.vhcb.org
Eco-system of small businesses, farms, housing projects
“We won’t be destroyed by Wall St again. They can do this mad stuff if they have to, but they won’t destroy our lives again.”
Lyvennet Community Trust, Cumbria
Community buy-out
of village pub
due to close
for conversion to flats.
CLT housing group
took lead on
Community Share Issue
to raise £360,000
Wilton CLT, Wiltshire
Community
ownership
of former
Ministry of Defence
land and buildings
for mixed tenure
redevelopment
Glendale Gateway Trust
Community
response
to closure of
Council owned
nursing home.
Reuse of a range of
public and private
unused buildings
High Bickington Community Property Trust, Devon
County Council and community
response to aftermath of
the ‘Foot & Mouth’ outbreak.
Rebuilding the community
and rural economy
using County Council
farm land and buildings.
• Land
• Homes
• Pub
• Shop
• Car park
• Public toilets
• Post office
• Allotments
• Orchard
• Office space
• Workshops
• Solar power
• Hydro power
Range of housing & non-housing projects
Options for Delivering
Affordable Rental Homes through a CLT
1. Stand-Alone CLT (earlier)
2. CLT/Housing Association or Developer Partnership (later)
Dorset - Buckland
Newton CLT
Devon – High
Bickington CPT
Pre-financial crash…Stand-alone CLTs
– inspirational and challenging!
OptionsStand-alone
CLT
Partnership
CLT/+AN
Other
Community
ownership
Yes
Freeholder and
direct landlord
Yes
Freeholder and
reversionary
interest
Financial riskCommunity
Land Trust
Housing
Association or
Developer
0%
25%
50%
75%
100%
Old GrantRegime
New GrantRegime
Zero GrantOptions
Market sales
Grant
Loan fromrented homes
Funding affordable homes for rent
in a riskier world ...
Post-financial Crash
2009: The first Partnerships
Dorset 2009 – Worth Matravers CLT and Synergy Housing
Dorset 2010 – Symene CLT and Hastoe Housing
COMMUNITY
LAND TRUST
Housing
Assn.
LAND
2. CLT grants
long lease to
HA
4. HA finances, builds
and manages homes
1. CLT selects
site & acquires
freehold
5. HA pays
ground rent
to CLT
7. CLT can
break lease
with HA
6. CLT is party to
S. 106 agreement
3. CLT leads on design,
numbers of homes,
allocation criteria etc
Somerset – Norton CLT and Yarlington Housing
Blackdown Hills – Upper Culm CLT and Hastoe Housing
Homebaked CLT, Anfield, Liverpool“We want to take back control of our neighbourhood”
Reuse of homes and land
bought by council
for demolition and
redevelopment
• Purchase of Council school land
• 34 homes
• 1-bed flats to 4-bed houses
• Social rent
• Affordable rent
• Shared equity
• Shared ownership
• Training opportunities through
the construction of shared-flats
for young people
RUSS
Rents @ 30% Discount for ‘Sweat Equity’:• 1 bed 2 person flat £92
• 2 bed 4 person house £118
• 4 bed 6 person house £134
• 6 bed 6 person shared house £70
Shared ownership• 2 bed 4 person house MV £320,000 @ 30-40% shares
• 4 bed 6 person house MV £630,000 @ 15-50% shares
• Rent @ 2% of equity balance eg £52-80 per week
Homes for Sale @ 20% Discount:• 1 bed 2 person flat £198,000
• 2 bed 3 person flat £288,000
RUSS
East London CLT, St Clement’sCommunity Organising made it happen
Listening
Campaigns
and holding
politicians to
account:
Communities
should be able to
take more
responsibility
for their own
areas.
Housing must be really
affordable…based on what
local people actually earn.
Reclaiming a ‘public asset’ for the communitySt. Clement’s Hospital, East London CLT
Urban CLT Programme
• Support 20 demonstration urban CLTs
• Round 2 bids closed November 2nd
• Advocate for urban CLTs
• Address the barriers to urban CLTs
• Design replicable delivery models
• Demonstrate versatility and persistence
• Political narrative
• Communities under threat
• Councils looking for new partners
1. What does this area need? What can local people really afford?
2. What is or isn’t the market or policy offering?
3. What part of the need are you trying to meet?
4. Who do you think will come…and why?
5. What do you need and want out of the tenure option(s) you choose?
6. What will potential residents need and want out of their tenure choice?
7. Can you achieve all your objectives?
8. Are some more important than others?
Tenure & Affordability Options: The ‘Why US?’ question
Our campaign
Policy and Market
are not
delivering…
Make CLTs a
key part of the
solution to the
housing crisis!
A strong case
A strong case
A strong case
Public Policy Context - Now
• Custom Build Initiative 2009…
• National Planning Policy Framework 2011emphasis on people who want to build their own homes
• Localism Act 2011 incl. Neighbourhood Planning and Community Right-to-Build
• Self Build and Custom Build Act 2015 open a register for ‘people who want’ etc
• Housing and Planning Bill 2016land supply through councils…extended to group schemes…double supply of custom build by 2020LILAC Cohousing CLT Project in Leeds
What has this meant for community projects?
£25m Affordable Homes Programme Community-led
programme in 2013-2015
£14m Community-led Project Support Fund to 2015
£3m Community Buildings and Housing Fund to 2018
£150m Custom Build Serviced Plots Loan Fund to 2020
for LAs and partners to get projects ‘shovel ready’ for
5+ plot sites
1. Diagnostic and project shaping support
2. Feasibility and technical support to get to
planning
3. Access to revolving fund development
finance at sensible cost
4. Conventional and Social Impact Investment
long term loans…guaranteed by
Government to reduce risk
5. Increased lending on mortgage products that
incorporate a ‘perpetuity’ arrangement;
6. Exemption from unhelpful ‘national’ policies
eg the Right to Buy
WOW! £60m…Practical things for getting started
What’s special about CLTs?•Witness to political and market failure
•Genuine and permanent affordability
• Long term vision and responsibility
• Social and technical innovation
•Unlocking creativity
•Humanising social and physical change
•Civic partnerships: citizens and state achieving more than they could on their own
A welcome route out of marketand policy failure?
What are CLTs really about?
“We hide behind the
tomatoes, dear, but what we
are really about is…
Read more ‘ProPerty, Justice and reason’ http://stephenhillfutureplanning.blogspot.co.uk
Facebook:
Community Land Trusts – National CLT Network
www.communitylandtrusts.org.uk
@community_land
Catherine Harrington, Director
020 3764 1842
Find out more…and join us!
NPPF Achieving sustainable development (50) and Plan Making - Housing (159)
• Prepare a Strategic Housing Market Assessment to assess their full housing needs, to identify the scale and mix of housing and the range of tenures that the local population is likely to need over the plan period.
• Plan for a mix of housing, based on current and future demographic trends, market trends, and the needs of different groups in the community:
# families with children…older people…people with disabilities…service families and
# people wishing to build their own homes
• Identify the size, type, tenure and range of housing that is required in particular locations, reflecting local demand
The Custom Build Register
• Trialled in Right to Build Vanguards
• Register wef April 1st 2016
• Open to individuals and groups
• Councils may be obliged to find and/or allocate land to meet the demand on the Register
• Nearly 30,000 people already registered
Challenges for Policy Makers
• Lack of capital and structure in ‘self-build’ and SME sector
• Gap in funding market for pooling and converting equity into capital and revenue
• Access to land and price of land
• Power of established corporate interests
• Political reserve about the personalisation of action for basic needs…shelter, food and energy
Springhill
Stroud
Alternative Narrative to Communities & HousingThe people-powered or ‘sharing’ economy
Interplay between disruptive practice and new technologies in the rebuilding of post-crash economies, based on reciprocal relationships, especially in the provision of relational goods:
• Local food systems
• Co-working hubs
• Co-operative businesses
• Local banking institutions
• Peer-to-peer platforms, and
• Collaborative forms of housing – Cohousing, CLTs, Coops, Self-Help Housing, and group custom build
Possible Sources of FundingRevenue grant for legal/start up costs CLT Start Up Fund,
Radical Roots and some councils may offer similar support
Upto £5,000
Revenue grant for pre-planning
(DCLG grant administered by Locality)
Community Buildings Pre-Feasibility
Grant:
£1,000 - £10,000
Community Buildings Project Support
Grant: £5,000 - £40,000
Capital grant for affordable housing £15,000 - £45,000/home
Capital grant for affordable housing
New Homes Bonus/2nd Homes Council Tax
Tops up Government grant
Council or donor land Market value for affordable housing
Loans and Equity
DCLG Custom Build and Small Builders Development Funds,
Private and Social Finance, and CLT/CAF Venturesome
Development period and investment
loans, (HA) mortgage or bond, social
impact bond, developer cross-subsidy
Community Equity Financing Options
• Big Society Capital: an independent financial institution with a social mission, set up to help grow the social investment market
• Radical Roots: a mutual aid organisation, offering loans through Rootstock mutual lending club.
• Community Share Issues: raising risk finance from the community which an enterprise intends to benefit, providing goods and services to meet local needs
• Crowdsourcing can access similar investors, mostly directly on line
Sources of Equity and Social Impact Finance
• Big Issue Invest can invest from £50,000 to £1,000,000 in equity.
• Bridges Ventures: Venture Funds invest between £500,000 and £10m in ambitious growth business in four investment themes: Underserved Areas, Environment, Education & Skills and Health & Well-being.
• CAF Venturesome can make equity investments when appropriate for charitable organisations.
• Key Fund can provide bespoke equity investments from £5,000 to £20,000 to support the development and growth of enterprise activities.
First, find a site
… or find a group… or find the money ?
Copper Lane Cohousing, Stoke Newington, London
Route map to developing a community housing project
Becoming the ‘intelligent’ client
DIY and appointing the right advisers at
the right time:
• Group constitution
• Group Development and Decision making
• Project management
• Cost and value plan
• Developing a design brief
• Working with planners and ‘neighbours’
• Finding enabling development partners
• Procurement options, including risk sharing
OWCH
Finding land
• Agent or self search
• Self purchase
• Public land…Market Value…or Less than best consideration?
• Private or institutional land
• Planning designations and community alliances
• Partnership purchase
• Housing associations, land developers, and house builders
Capitalising the group
• Self funded – members’ equity
and/or bank borrowing
• Government Custom Build and other Revolving Funds
• Community Right to Build Seedcorn Fund
• Grant for affordable housing
• Co-financing through ‘off-plan’ sales, partnership and turnkey contracts
OWCH Barnet
Now on site
All development is
95% PERSEVERANCE!
Main barriers: Hard work to get and co-ordinate land, project finance, mortgages, professionals and construction, culture…
Citizen inspired housing ‘Housing’ & ‘Community’ policy as we have not known it
Stephen Hill
Churchill Fellow