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London mayor Sadiq Khan has announced plans to spend £250,000 setting up an advice hub for community groups looking to build homes in the capital themselves.
The Homes for Londoners Community Housing Hub will guide community and independent builders on accessing funding and unlocking land, as well as offering technical support for schemes.
It is due to go live in the summer.
Mr Khan said: “Community-led housing offers the chance to build new homes that Londoners want to live in. Londoners should be able to play a leading role in building their own communities, but for too long this has been difficult and they have had no support or access to funding.
“That’s why my new Homes for Londoners Community Housing Hub will act as a one-stop shop for Londoners interested in getting involved in community-led housing.”
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City Hall earlier announced a £500,000 grant for Naked House, a community development group hoping to build a scheme of 22 ultra-basic homes – which have no partitions walls or fitted rooms so they can be modified to a resident’s requirements – across three sites in Enfield.
The group, which also wants to develop a further seven sites, is the first of its kind to receive funding from the Greater London Authority.
Calum Green, co-director of London Community Land Trust, said: “Community-led housing is a great way to provide the genuinely and permanently affordable homes that London needs.
“Londoners are more inclined to back the building of new homes in our neighbourhood when we play a meaningful role in deciding where those homes go, who should live in them and what they should look like.”