Communities will be given more opportunities to build homes in their neighbourhood following the launch of a new £4 million housing fund on Monday 23rd August 2021 by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
The new grant programme, which is called the Community Housing Fund Revenue Programme 2021/22, gives community-led housing groups in England better access to high quality, affordable housing that meets the needs of local communities. The money will help community groups meet a range of costs incurred in trying to develop housing. This could include paying for searches, administration costs or legal advice, design work and planning applications.
The community-led approach involves community-based groups taking responsibility for local housebuilding. It delivers housing that is affordable locally and remains under the control of the community through land trusts or housing co-operatives.
The Community Led Homes Partnership (CLH) will manage the grant programme, assessing all applications and administering the grants. CLH is a partnership of 4 leading community-led housing organisations:
o Confederation of Co-operative Housing.
o Locality.
o National Community Land Trust Network, and
o UK Cohousing Network.
Applications opened on Monday 23 August 2021 and will remain open until all funds are allocated or until Friday 31 December 2021, whichever occurs first. The programme will close in March 2022 – all work funded by the grant must be completed by this date.
To apply for the fund, groups will need to complete an eligibility checker on the Community Led Homes website. If eligible, groups will be emailed an online grant application form.
For the full MHCLG press release, go to GOV.UK.
