Community Land Trusts (CLTs) Qualities of

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Community Land Trusts (CLTs) Qualities of How
To set Up

• Andy Lloyd Cumbria Rural Housing Trust
• Part of the Investing In Communities Initiative
  Under One Roof Project
•  
• Contributing partners Lake District National
  Park AuthoritySouth Lakeland District Council
  Eden Housing Association

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What are CLTs?

• Another option for affordable housing delivery
• Owning assets on behalf of a community
• not for profit
• based in and run by the community
• focus on permanence long term benefit
• (alms house trusts still provide housing after
  hundreds of years)
• Common legal forms
• Charitable Company
• or Industrial Provident Society

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They can be

• Based in
• existing organisations, or formed as new ones
• Referred to as
• land, property or development trusts
• And are versatile
• affordable Housing to rent or part buy
• retail, work community spaces farms

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Advantages offered?

• Focus on getting results for your community
• Involvement permanence
• increasing community landowner confidence
  that homes will remain locally affordable
• better partnerships between communities Local
  Authorities
• reinforcing planning agreements constitution
  trustees
• Long term regeneration
• through diversity permanence
• Sustainable design
• what people need living space low running
  costs

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A potted history

• 1678 Brabins Trust, Lancs - Alms house trust now
  expanding as a CLT supported by Great Places HA
• 1903 Letchworth Garden City - Trust based
  housing, none sold off, permanent re-investment
  income for community
• 1923 Isle of Lewis put into community ownership
  by Lord Leverhulme. Still going strong.
• 1950s India village trusteeship launched by
  Ghandi
• 1967 USA CLT farms established through work of
  Martin Luther king
• 1983 UK Stonesfield Trust, Oxfordshire -11 rented
  homes. More planned
• 1994 Threlkeld HA (a local trust) 14 part
  ownership homes v successful
• 1997 Community Land Unit, Scotland - case studies
  at www.hie.co.uk/community-case-studies.html
• 2008 America more than 220 CLTs, large urban to
  small rural. Federal assistance. CLT academy
• 2009 England Wales 1st 100 CLT homes coming
  through

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Experience in the US Anchoring communities
during difficult timesMichael Brown, Burlington
CLT, August 2008

• Very safe loan to income multiples (say 2.5 x
  income)
• Resale values linked to wage inflation
• Training support
• Consequently very low CLT default rate of 0.6
• American banks support CLT mortgages

7
Government support?

• Community Empowerment White Paper Real People
  Real Power
• CLT definition in 2008 Housing Regeneration Act
• CLT Consultation due to report
• Housing Grant?
• Cant do affordable homes without subsidy!
• Homes Communities Agency (HCA) recognises
  community friendly application process needed
• Holy Island CLT piloting the new process
• Supported by the Development Trust Association
• NE Regional Office supporting bid
• 3 Rivers Housing Association as partner

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Support for Cumbrian communities?

• CLT Community Support Officer January 2008
• Advice support
• Info resources at crht.org.uk
• Funded by LDNPA, SLDC, Eden DC, Eden HA
• Housing Association partners
• Advice support
• Project development management
• Low cost finance
• Partners to acquire HCA grant
• The Development Trust Association www.dta.org.uk
• Advice support
• 450 community trusts with 490m of assets

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for Cumbria continued..

• The national CLT Facilitation Fund
• Technical support grants
• Preliminary development costs grants and loans
• Capital development match funding
• www.esmeefairbairn.org.uk/significant-cltdf.html
• Cumbria CLT workshops planned
• Revolving Loan Fund
• Low cost loans towards preliminary costs
• For LDNPA SLDC areas so far

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Scheme examplesWitherslack, Cumbria

• Dispersed but vibrant settlement
• Community saved village pub and set up a
  community shop
• High local housing need
• Self built housing planned
• Land gifted by local landowner

Shop before after
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Threlkeld, Cumbria

• 14 homes built in 1994, also workshops
• Land donated by ARC Ltd
• The company provided manager for one year to
  set the scheme up
• Homes jointly owned by the occupants and the
  trust
• Support provided by
• Eden Housing Association

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• Glendale Gateway Trust,
• Wooler, Northumberland
• Visiting 25th February 09
• Renovated community and workspace building
• Revitalised town center acquiring unoccupied
  shops and flats
• Acquired and turned around towns Youth Hostel
• Enabled development of social housing Wooller
  town centre
• Now master-plan to identify opportunities long
  term

GGTs thriving youth hostel
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Holy Island of Lindisfarne Community Development
Trust

• Built 5 energy-efficient houses 2 flats held
  in perpetuity
• Priority to local young people
• All but one of the tenants work on the island
• 4 more homes in planning A pilot for HCA grant
• 250k bank loan, 200k Tudor Trust, 200 needed
  due to archaeology
• NE HCA keen to help with grant
• DTA consultant leading discussions on behalf of
  Trust
• 3 Rivers Housing Association partnering grant
  application
• Also
• Harbour Management Plan
• Lifeboat Heritage Museum wildlife visitor centre

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Buckland Newton, West Dorset
Arco2 architects prefab local timber / straw
bale insulation - 1,050m2 Magna Housing
Association - advice and scrutiny Land 5,000 per
plot landowner as a trustee 8 shared ownership
2 rent 160,000 of subsidy from the
HCA 16,000 grant per unit District Council
providing 800,000 development phase finance
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Chipping CLT, Lancs

• Extension of Brabins medieval alms house trust
• Has land and financial assets
• And 330 years housing experience
• Wants future resale value of homes linked to
  local wage inflation
• Development partner
• Great Places Housing Group

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St Minver, N Cornwall

• Developed by Cornwall Rural HA
• On behalf of local CLT
• Managed self build

Do it yourself Charlie Hibbert helps put his own
home together

• Part ownership tenure
• Subsidy provided by North Cornwall District
  Council

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Scotland - Isle of Gigha

• First local homes for 25 years built
• Three dairy farms double in size
• Another farm developed
• Business units built and allocated
• Community-owned wind farm
• Facilitated by the Community Land Unit

Mr Chisholm with Mr and Mrs Gillies, whose home
was funded with a rural home ownership grant
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Funding affordable homes

• All in cost of developing an affordable home
• Around 120,000
• Income from occupants
• from low rent 50,000
• (could be higher through part buying)
• Shortfall met through subsidy
• around 70,000

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Subsidy options

• Social Housing Grant available in near future
• Fundraising / share issues
• Communities often have considerable resources
  want to help
• Where planning allows cross subsidy
• Plot or house sold by the CLT could subsidise
  affordable units

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Typical process

• Form a CLT steering group Motivated local people
• Invite support CLT Officer, Planners Housing
  Officers, Local Housing Association
• Check local need Parish / town survey (LA /
  Rural Enabler CRHT)
• Research sites New land? Modest value?
  Pragmatism from planners? Publicly owned land or
  buildings suitable for transfer at low or nil
  value? (Quirk)
• Consult the community Support for trust
  approach?
• Confirm need Invite people to register direct
  with steering group
• Formalise trust Contract with development
  partner (HA?). Do business plan / planning
  application

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Site opportunities

• Existing charitably owned land
• Private gifts legacies
• Renovation of existing buildings - May not need
  planning permission
• Rural exception sites
• For communities under 3,000 population where need
  is proved
• Usually a natural extension to the existing
  settlement.
• Prioritises local need. Must be all affordable
• Transfer of publicly owned assets
• Making sites and buildings available at nominal
  cost
• Long term social economic instead of simple
  cash value
• Recommended by the Quirk Review / Power of
  Wellbeing / Disposal of Consents Act
• From LAs public utilities
• Affordable housing quotas on residential
  developments
• Could be developed by CLTs

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Tips from Chipping CLT

•  
• Make it clear your scheme is for the benefit of
  your own community. This will help get local
  people on board
•  
• You will need someone to drive ideas forward and
  move from
• contemplation to achievement
•  
• Draw on the experiences of others and make use of
  experts to inform the process
•  
• Involve Housing Associations. They have expertise
  and services and may be able to access funding
  that others cannot
•  
• If the parish council submits the planning
  applications they only pay half the fees!
•  
• An existing Trust may be a firm foundation on
  which to build.
•  
• A small committed local builder may deliver a
  lower build cost

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Contact

• CRHT resources available on web site
• Short guide to CLTs
• CLT Handbook
• Project development flow chart
• Example business plan
• Example allocations policy
• Guide to sustainable construction

• Andy Lloyd
• Community Land Trust
• Project Officer
• Cumbria Rural Housing Trust
• Redhills House, Redhills 
• Penrith, Cumbria, CA11 0DT
•  
• Tel. [phone]
• Mobile [phone]
• andy_at_crht.org.uk
• www.crht.org.uk