A road with a car driving down it. On the right, a building of flats and a tree are visible. Two people are walking on the pavement next to the road.

Innovation

Unlocking community-led housing

We’re working with London Community Land Trust to explore how communities can advocate for and develop affordable, community-owned housing.

Key information

  • Partner: London Community Land Trust
  • Amount: £450,000
  • Duration: 3 years
  • Programme: Innovation

Background

Secure, affordable homes that are in good condition can protect our health and wellbeing, reducing the incidence of long-term health conditions. But too often, people in Lambeth and Southwark live in unsuitable, unstable homes that put their health at risk.

In Lambeth and Southwark, 16,000 households rely on universal credit or housing support to pay their rent. At the same time, London’s housing crisis is worsening income inequality and pushing many households that are just above the threshold for social housing towards greater financial strain – leaving them with few affordable long-term options.

That’s why we’re partnering with the London Community Land Trust (London CLT) for the next three years to help deliver permanently affordable homes in Lambeth and Southwark – working with local communities and councils to develop sites in south London.

Community Land Trusts are democratically-ran organisations set up to develop and manage community-owned land and assets in the interests of their members, growing local leadership and decision-making and long-term community infrastructure.

Proposed design for community-owned housing in Syclla Road in Southwark

Aim of the partnership

Our partnership with London CLT will help scale the community land trust model in Lambeth and Southwark by providing capacity to engage with communities and local authorities to secure sites on which to build permanently affordable homes.

Over the next three years, we’re working with London CLT to develop two sites in Lambeth and Southwark:

  • 15 homes and a community space at Christchurch Road, Lambeth
  • 12 homes and a community space at Scylla Road, Southwark

Through this partnership, we will examine how the community land trust model can engage people from Black and other ethnically minoritised communities in broader health programmes, and what can be learned from strengthening local leadership, agency and the capacity of communities to advocate for their own needs.

The partnership is part of our community wealth-building area of investigation, where we explore how community assets can be used to build long-term wealth in economically marginalised communities and in turn act on the ways poverty and low incomes help entrench health inequities.

Olamide Raheem

Find out more about this partnership

Contact Olamide Raheem, Portfolio Manager for Innovation

olamide.raheem@urbanhealth.org.uk

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