On Wednesday 14 October at our general meeting, we welcomed Eddy Morton from West Midlands Urban Community Homes (WMUCH). The focus was primarily on the opportunities for community-led housing in Coventry as well as the facilitating / enabling role of WMUCH.
WMUCH has been in existence for over six years. One of its main successes is that in Birmingham, the Council now has a policy to target 5% of new homes to be community-led by 2031.
WMUCH aims include:
- Helping to achieve this 5% target across the West Midlands by 2031
- Making community-led housing part of housing strategies of all councils as well as that of the West Midlands Combined Authority
- Highlighting the social, economic and environmental benefits of community-led housing including improving health and well-being.
Its activities range from advocating and lobbying for community-led housing at national, regional and local levels through to working with communities interested in the idea.
Community groups interested in taking forward projects are, however, faced with many challenges such as finding and acquiring a site, gaining planning permission, sorting out revenue funding for the early preparation stages as well as development finance for the building and construction phase. WMUCH can help with these issues by, for example, making connections with potential funders and housing associations that can help with the development and long-term housing management stages.
Eddy provided examples of schemes where WMUCH is working with community groups. They include the Stirchley Cooperative Development project in Birmingham that will provide 39 affordable homes and three-worker owned businesses. Although it is a success in many respects, a major current issue illustrates the type of challenges faced by community-led housing. Cost overruns during the construction phrase (which was carried out by a housing association – GreenSquare Accord) has resulted in £2 million deficit and a difficult relationship between the Cooperative and the housing association.
A further example is the Stourbridge PowerHaus scheme in the Black Country. It been supported by a Homes England grant and has achieved planning permission. It is a car-free development and will be built to the highest environmental standards and incorporates a shared workspace for increased home working, a roof garden, solar panels, electric bike scheme and dedicated recycling area.
So, what are the prospects for Coventry?
Eddy’s talk generated considerable discussion.
Although the city is nationally and internationally recognised for the Starley Road Housing Cooperative since the late 1970s, there has been little progress over the last four decades. This is illustrated by the experience of the Highlife Centre which is a community-based organisation in the Hillfields and Stoke areas. It initially received support from the City Council to explore a vacant local authority site but this was subsequently withdrawn. The reason for this was that the Council decided that the site was needed for another use.
Discussions then centred on whether community-led housing should focus on new homes on small brownfield sites or on tackling the issue of empty homes of which it is estimated that there are over 4,000 in the city. The latter is an intriguing possibility. But the problem is that they are pepper-potted across the city rather than concentrated in specific neighbourhoods.
There was also brief discussion on whether community-led housing could be part of pride in place projects in Hillfields, Tile Hill and Willenhall.
Reoccurring themes throughout the evening included:
- Importance of WMUCH to help communities develop ideas
- Support from the City Council for community-led housing from a policy perspective as well as practical help on, for example, identifying sites
- Help from housing associations such as Citizen and Orbit.
Useful sources of information:
WMUCH website: West Midlands Urban Community Homes – WMUCH
Highlife Centre: The Highlife Centre
Stourbridge PowerHaus: PowerHaus | Stourbridge CLT
Stirchley Cooperative Development: Stirchley Co-operative Development