18 August 2012
Community Housing schemes in Wales are set for a boost thanks to new funding by the Welsh government.
The Wales Co-operative Centre has received funding and made contributions totalling £200,000 to support a number of pioneering co-operative housing schemes across Wales and will be shortly appointing a Project Manager to provide expert advice, support and training for each of the initiatives.
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The Welsh government made a commitment to exploring co-operative housing in its manifesto prior to the last Welsh Assembly elections in 2011. It also proposed to support local authorities who wish to build new homes for rent and encourage innovation through Community Land Trusts and other new ways of providing land and funding for housing.
The government is also currently consulting on a new White Paper, Homes for Wales, which proposes to increase the supply of new homes with 7500 affordable new homes – which will include 500 co-operative homes.
Derek Walker, Chief Executive of the Wales Co-operative Centre said: “I welcome Welsh Government’s recognition that innovative models, such as co-operative housing, should be considered as part of the solution to the demand for more new affordable homes. Whilst recognising that co-operative housing is only likely to be a small part of the picture in the immediate future, I believe it has the potential to play a more significant role in the longer term, as it does already in countries such as Sweden.
“There are many benefits of co-operative housing models; it can help increase individual and community empowerment and resilience and co-operative housing residents are engaged in making decisions about their housing with fellow members helping to build a strong community. In the current climate home ownership is simply not an option for a large number of people and co-operative housing models can play a role in addressing this problem.”
