Small co-ops can’t access funding
Following the publicaction of the report into the co-operative and mutual housing sector Bringing democracy home, I felt compelled to write to housing minister John Healey outlining my concerns over funding for housing co-ops.
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I applaud Mr Healey’s endorsement of the report from the commission on co-operative and mutual housing. And I read with interest his comment on the report in which he states: ‘I hope to see those looking to build a new co-operative applying for a share of the £7.5 billion that the government is making available to build the decent, secure and affordable homes we need across the country.’
As someone who works for an established and successful housing co-op I thought Mr Healey should know that it seems almost impossible for small co-ops to access grant funding under the current regime. All funding is directed to the Homes and Communities Agency’s ‘preferred partners’ - large social landlords, none of which are co-operatives.
To access any funding co-ops must go cap-in-hand to these large social landlords, literally begging for the crumbs of their allocation. Sadly, in my experience these landlords do not want to know.
So I am asking the housing minister to put his money where his mouth is and set aside development funding specifically for new and existing housing co-ops, similar to the designated funding that was in place, up until recently, for black and minority ethnic social landlords.
Tim Cummins, director of housing, Ekarro Housing Co-operative