Co-operative Housing ‘Delivering in Practice’

Bron Lloyd – Director of Community Regeneration, Charter Housing, Pobl Group

Dave Palmer - Co-operative Housing Project Manager, Wales Co-operative centre

What do you want from your home and its neighbourhood

• List the top 5 most important things

• On a scale of 0 to 5 how much of this is within your control

• What are the barriers?

• What if you could overcome some of these by working with other people and the help of an RSL

Here are some people who did just that

What our Co-operators said was important • Safety of my family – comfortable and safe in my own home

• People respecting and caring for their neighbourhood

• Feeling welcome and secure

• Safe place for children to play

• An extended family safety and trust

• Sense of Community

• Everybody treated with respect ..equal, having a say and helping each other

• Friendly, safe and clean

• Ecological with not a lot of traffic

• Equal votes in decisions communicating matters , respect

• Quality of life

What our Co-operators said they would like

• Affordable home ownership

• Some ownership/stake in their home to encourage a sense of ownership

• Being able to do what they wanted to their home

• Affordability is key

• Affordable home to rent maybe buy

• Car Club

• Village and water – nice place to live

• Garden

• Space for small businesses

• Community Orchard with ducks

What does everyone want ? • A community that is welcoming and safe

• Where you have as much control over your home as possible

• Neighbours when you need them, privacy when you want it

• Where you have the ability to influence what happens around you

• Where other people who want the same things can help you achieve this

What a Co-op is ….. There are many types of Housing Co-operatives

Rented Co-Housing Home- ownership

• Small Co-ops – members sharing a rented house

• Larger Co-ops – tenant management

• Co-operative leasehold

‘Intentional communities’ with shared living, mostly owned and with people who know each other

Shared ownership Mutual Home ownership Community Self- Build

Loftus Garden Village – Newport

Loftus Village Association

Local enthusiasm

Strong partnerships

Flexibility

Three key elements

Mixed tenure

membership

Enduring membership

to Co-op

Defines Co-op

functions

The Cooperative – shared ownership rents, community issues, membership

Charter – intermediate rent, support in complex cases, additional tenancy

matters, monitoring

Pobl living – sales, staircasing, services

The Model and How it works

Loftus Village Association

Model Rules Co-ops UK +

Co-op Services

Occupancy Agreements Shared Owner Freeholder Tenant

Sales / letting

Charter Housing

The People • Members: 19, Ages:22 to 63

• Employment: full & part time employed, home makers

• Tenure: 1 owner, 2 rental, 16 shared ownership

• Status:

• below 70% mortgability

• first or second time buyers

• Living at home

• Private renting

• Intermediate renting

• Housing association tenants

Iris has a low single person income but wants to move back into homeownership

Lesley lives alone, is close to retirement and has limited options to increase her income.

Emma works in education is single in her early 20’s living with her parents.

The People

More than just Housing • We want to get together and negotiate a group deal on

our gas and electricity.

• The Association will run through a local exchange network.

• We want to reduce our impact on the environment and earn money.

• We’re ready to get growing and will be making space in our shared garden to grow plants, herbs and vegetables to share.

More than just Housing • Invest in energy saving projects leading to

reduced fuel bills for everyone

• All moving together to build a community

• Co-operative Energy offer groups: £20 to each house signed up,

• Welcome packs for each house,

• Membership points,

• prepayment smart meters and energy saving training if needed,

• Fund raising for community projects

Income Costs

Total rent o Borrowing payments

£

o Management costs HA

o Management fee Co-operative

o Maintenance fee 4% - tenanted

Small Surplus recycled to support further affordability

Finances and Viability Values £

Market value Total open market values

£ from purchaser Receipts from buyers (mortgage or cash)

£ from Pobl

Remaining investment (borrowings) o 0% outright sale o 30-70% shared ownership o 100% tenanted

Grant If available offset against HA borrowings

Programme of Work – WG support Social Enterprises and Mutuals and seek to provide 20,000 affordable homes and Co-operative Housing is well placed to provide a share of this target Housing Pact – support for co-operative housing is noted in CIH/WLGA’s Housing Pact.

Key enablers Key outcomes

Support housing development across all geographies;

continuation of funding for Rural Housing Enablers

and support for Co-operative housing

Work together to support the innovative development

and delivery of new models of affordable housing that

meet current demands and future need

Some of the schemes LA Partner HA Partner Type

Home Farm Village

Housing Co-op *

Cardiff Cadwyn

Housing

Affordable rent

Old Oak Housing Co-op* Carmarthen Grŵp Gwalia Intermediate rent

Loftus Gardens Co-op * Newport Seren Shared Ownership

Gwynedd Community

Land Trust #

Gwynedd Grŵp Cynefin Affordable homes

for sale

Ty Cyfle ** Torfaen Bron Afon

Housing

Young people

shared housing

West Rhyl Community

Land Trust **

Denbighshire North Wales

Housing

Rented housing in

regeneration

Taf Fechan Housing Co-op,

Gellideg **

Merthyr Tydfil

CBC

MV Homes 90% local market

rental

… and there’s more

bubbling under

LA Partner HA Partner Type

L’Arche - Cohousing in

Mold

Flintshire SHARP Learning difficulties

Shakespeare Gardens,

Pontypridd. **

Rhondda Cynon

Taff CBC

Newydd

Housing

Single people

rented

St Davids Community

Land Trust #

Pembrokeshire Pembs Housing

Asss’n

Large mixed tenure

Wrexham Self Build Self Build

Bronllys Well Being Park Powys Health

and Well Being

Action Group

tbc Large health &

housing scheme

Key - *Pioneer Schemes, ** Pilot Schemes # ‘Shovel Ready’ – Advanced Projects

Strategy and ‘Lessons Learnt’

So what have we learnt?

• Is not a one size fits all solution – bespoke arrangements for different requirements

• local people have responded enthusiastically when given opportunity

• strong partnerships between communities, local authorities and housing associations – housing staff are learning new skills – and are becoming as enthusiastic as the communities

How can you help?

• The strategic role helping us

to identify sites, possibilities

and partnerships

• imaginative and innovative

uses of the HRA and General

Fund

• talk to us one to one – tell us

what you want and we will

help you to deliver it

• visit some of the schemes….?

Any Questions ?