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Community groups invited to apply for £163m affordable housing fund
Local groups have been invited to bid for a slice of the £163m second phase of the government’s community housing fund in order to build affordable housing schemes for their local areas.
The fund is open to community-led groups who want to build across England between now and the end of March 2020, although bids can be made via housing providers.
Phase one of the fund, which launched in July, was intended to back pre-development costs and capital funding for local infrastructure projects. The second phase will be available to spend on acquiring land and building housing schemes.
Applicants will have to be able to prove that “meaningful community engagement” happens throughout the development process, although the community does not have to build the homes themselves.
The local group must also own, manage or ‘steward’ the homes, which can be done via a registered housing provider. Benefits to the community must also be shown, the government said.
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Jackie Jacob, general manager for housing programmes at Homes England, said: “Community-led housing is about giving local people the lead to solve local housing problems and provide affordable homes in their communities.
“It’s great to make funding available for community groups across England to transform how the homes are delivered locally.”
Both local authorities and registered providers are able to apply for the money on behalf of community groups in order to support them through the process, or community groups can apply directly.
Bidding for both phases is now open via the Homes England Portal and will run until the funding is committed or until the end of 2019, whichever occurs first.
