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Community-led housing

The Mayor's London Housing Strategy sets out key community-led housing principles:

  • meaningful community engagement and consent occurs throughout the development process. Communities do not necessarily have to initiate the conversation or build homes themselves 

  • a presumption that the community group or organisation will take a long-term formal role in owning, stewarding, or managing the homes 

  • the scheme's benefits to the local area and/or specified community group are clearly defined, and legally protected in perpetuity. 

The Mayor wants Londoners to have the opportunity to play a leading role in building their own communities. To help them do this, he has acted to boost delivery of new community-led homes by: 

Between 2018/19 and 2025/26, the Mayor also funded London’s Community Led Housing London hub. 

Community-led homes at St Ann's

St Ann's is a flagship, 995 home development, delivered through a partnership between the Mayor and Peabody. The scheme will enshrine 60 per cent of homes as genuinely affordable, and up to 56 of these will be ringfenced and acquired as community-led homes.  

The GLA launched an opportunity for community groups to submit proposals for acquiring 56 homes at St Ann's New Neighbourhood Scheme, in the London Borough of Haringey. The selection process has now closed, and the GLA is supporting Gida Housing Cooperative to progress the acquisition. 

If you need information in an alternative format, email [email protected].  

Community Housing Fund

The Mayor secured London's share of the Community Housing Fund and is delivering the capital's programme. The fund launched in 2019 and is only providing funding to projects which can achieve a start on site by September 2026. 

Outside London, the programme was delivered by Homes England. 

Community-Led Housing London Hub

Community Led Housing London is now operating as Community Led Homes, and is focused on its legacy work. It continues to make advice available to groups, alongside a consultancy offer. Community Led Homes is also developing a range of new approaches for delivering CLH, building on lessons learned from the CHF programme. Overviews are available on its website. 

Small Sites, Small Builders

Through the Small Sites, Small Builders programme, launched in February 2018, the Mayor earmarked two TfL-owned sites for community-led housing: Cable Street in Tower Hamlets and Christchurch Road in Lambeth, and has supported boroughs in bringing forward other sites for community-led housing. 

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