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Support for community land trusts is the most important point from Labour’s land report
Bjorn Howard argues that community land trusts are set to become a mainstay of social housing, now that both main Westminster parties have shown significant support for them
The Labour Party gave us one of the most detailed views of Jeremy Corbyn’s vision for housing to date when it published its report, Land for the Many, in June.
In a week that saw Donald Trump visit the UK and much jostling for position among the Conservative party’s list of potential new leaders, the report slipped somewhat under the radar.
But that doesn’t make it any less important. We should analyse it and understand what housing policy would look like under a Labour government.
For me, the key takeaway from the document was the prominence of community land trusts (CLTs).
The report sets out an ambition for £200m of land to be in community ownership by 2030 and throughout. There is also a clear focus on putting communities at the centre of housing policy.
But Labour is by no means the first party to advocate community-led housing.
The government launched the £163m Community Housing Fund last year. Then in February this year, housing minister – and MP for one of our key regions, North Hampshire – Kit Malthouse, announced a further £6m to support the delivery of affordable homes through CLTs, enabling communities to apply for up to £10,000 to cover start-up costs, such as legal fees.
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What the future holds politically in the UK isn’t abundantly clear at the moment, but CLTs look set to rise up the housing agenda, no matter who is running the country.
This means that housing associations must embrace them more widely.
Aster is one of the most active housing associations for delivering CLTs in the regions in which we operate.
Our experience tells us that focusing more on them should be seen not just as something the government wants us to do, but as an integral part of the solution to the housing challenges we face.
The National Audit Office estimates that housebuilding targets for 2020 will be missed by half of England’s local authorities.
“The complexities of delivering housing, affordable or otherwise, are slowing down delivery across the country”
A report from the Green Party earlier this year estimated that London boroughs failed to deliver a planned 33,000 homes last year. Elsewhere, a BBC investigation calculated that the North West is delivering fewer than a third of the affordable homes the region needs.
The complexities of delivering housing, affordable or otherwise, are slowing down delivery across the country.
The solution is to be more innovative and varied in our approach to building homes. CLTs should form part of this strategy and can be a very effective way of supplying affordable housing in areas that aren’t necessarily benefitting from the large-scale projects geared towards hitting national build targets.
I see three key areas where the strengths of CLTs can best be put to use.
Firstly, the priority for housing associations will always be to ensure that we provide adequate affordable homes.
The ‘asset lock’ built into a CLT’s constitution means that homes remain affordable in perpetuity.
The properties are owned by the community, so prices can be set and maintained at levels that people can afford.
Secondly, a fundamental challenge is often getting a project off the ground. Local opposition to the prospect of significant construction work can significantly slow down or stop planning applications, particularly in rural areas.
CLTs are often far more effective at achieving local buy-in to a project because it is owned by the community and has its needs and concerns at its heart.
Having local people onside reduces friction in the planning application.
This means projects can get a green light when they might otherwise have not been approved if put forward through more traditional channels.
Finally, unlocking small parcels of land for development has proved troublesome for the sector historically.
While vital for local housing needs, they often aren’t big enough to be a financially viable prospect for many established housebuilders and, as a result, are left undeveloped.
These seemingly small missed opportunities add up to thousands of homes across the country that don’t get built.
CLTs can be a very effective way of solving this issue. They have a more social purpose than traditional developments, especially when managed by a housing association.
Their primary aim is to solve acute local housing requirement, so those running the CLT don’t need to identify the same potential return on investment that a private-sector housebuilder needs to before embarking on a project.
As such, the CLT can unlock small plots that might not be lucrative enough to attract housebuilders.
It’s hard to remember a time when it was more difficult to predict the UK’s political future. The prospect of a new prime minister, another general election and a new, as yet undecided relationship with Europe are all seemingly up in the air at the moment.
Amid such uncertainty, the housing sector can be sure that delivering the homes the country needs will always be a priority. What’s more, Land for the Many and the investment that the current government has put into community-led housing strongly indicates that CLTs are set to play a more significant role, regardless of who is in power.
It’s vital that housing associations recognise this and do more to support and deliver CLTs across the UK.
Bjorn Howard, chief executive, Aster Group
