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Some historic terms for practices found within the UK’s community-led and self-build sector have already been noted in Chapter One. This chapter unpicks how the motivations underpinning local and community-led initiatives can be understood to have informed the kinds of activity that have been used to achieve particular ends.
This has been most evident in the kinds of practices or models that local projects have chosen to use for their engagements. Table 2.1 summarises the appeal of a range of ‘models’ or ‘typologies’ of local practices that have featured in the creation of local homes and neighbourhoods. These include both collaborative projects and individualistic activities.
Table 2.1: Models of community-led and self-organised housing practice
| Self-build housing: Tailor-made or designed properties, arranged by individuals or groups for their own use, including homes built by the residents themselves |
| Custom-build housing: Where households have made use of a specialist provider/developer to finalise the ‘customising’ of homes to their own choosing |
| Co-operative/mutual housing: Housing that is owned and/or controlled by the democratic membership and engagement of all the resident households |
| Tenant management organisations: Tenants and leaseholders being collectively responsible for managing local homes and housing services |
| Self-help housing: Bringing empty or derelict properties back into use through renovation works undertaken by community projects |
| Community land trusts/development trusts: Housing and other assets being owned or managed for community benefit, and at permanently affordable costs |
| Cohousing: Creating mutually supportive neighbourhoods that combine self-contained dwellings with other shared spaces, buildings and facilities |
| Low-impact housing: The design and development of dwellings to maximise the protection of the local and natural environment |
| Intentional communities: Sharing lifestyles and properties alongside others holding common social, political, or spiritual values |
| Homes to travel with: Using mobile dwellings or other temporary settings, instead of homes in more permanent places |
| ‘Community anchors’: Organisations securing the long-term stewardship of buildings, land and other facilities for the benefit of local communities |
It should be noted there is no mention here of more mainstream housing bodies or practices – bodies such as local charities, or Housing Associations, or local authority housing departments (that is, ‘council’ housing), or even almshouses – all of which at times can describe or present their activities as being ‘community-based’. Certainly, these may involve local communities and can provide invaluable housing and neighbourhood services in their own ways, but the usual decision-making structures of such bodies are invariably dominated by management or executive bodies within very professionalised and highly organised systems. It would not be the case that such structures and their services would fit with the community-led housing that has been described above. The typical scale and nature of the decisions being enacted by such executive decision-making bodies is invariably different from the local scale of collaborative or self-managed projects being depicted here; for that reason they are not included in Table 2.1.
It would also be fair to point out that several community-led housing projects have arisen in opposition to the policies and practices instigated by some mainstream bodies, sometimes as a response to a perceived lack of practical accountability by elected representatives or benefactors to their host communities. This is particularly the case for some tenant management initiatives, when local tenants have campaigned for a greater influence over the local services supplied by a housing association or a local authority housing department.
The main sections below are a substantial exploration of the different models listed in Table 2.1 and a basis for understanding how these can link with the intentions and definitions listed in Table 1.1. Detailed information is set out on a comprehensive range of practices and activities through which community-based housing initiatives take place and underlying motivations could be met, including:
•definitions of key terms (in the main provided by community-led organisations);
•notes on the key appeal and motivations behind each practice;
•comment on the recent context and examples of each practice;
•notes on relevant organisations offering support and advice;
•some points on implications for future policy.
The thrust of each section is to provide a full description of what different practices do, and their main context(s). Broad descriptions and the location of individual examples are provided, plus details of associated bodies of interest. There has been no attempt to compile detailed case studies as many already exist on websites and in the publications and reports from the community-led and academic/research sectors. Where projects are named, contact details are given so that further information can be sought, if desired.
Finally, some short summaries are included to suggest how the success of projects can be justly interpreted as examples of how the application of different practices have fruitfully connected with underlying drivers and motivations.
2.1 Self-build and custom-build housing
The classic notion of this is households arranging the creation of their own homes. The terms self-build and custom-build denote two complementary things: (a) tailor-made or designed properties, arranged by individuals or groups for their own use, including homes built by the residents; (b) households making use of a specialist provider or developer to finalise the ‘customising’ of homes to their own choosing.
Clarification of terms
•Self-build is the term that has been used