Levent Kerimol

We had the chance to talk with Hannah, a member of Forest Community Land Trust to hear about their plans to build sustainable homes in Waltham Forest. Discover why she got involved, and how Community Led Housing London helped to motivate and inspire her.

A place to call home?

Hannah loves her home in Walthamstow. As a single mother, Waltham Forest has everything she needs: great schools, beautiful parks and a wonderful social atmosphere.

The only problem is that like many other parts of London, the housing situation is spiralling out of control. Rents have skyrocketed, while new developments are marketed towards high-earning city-slickers. This is pushing local residents out of town.

“It makes my blood boil,” Hannah tells me. “I love this place, but I fear it’s dying. People can’t afford to stay here.”

Housing for the people, by the people

After seeing many of her own friends and neighbours priced out of town, Hannah started to look for alternative options online. That is where she discovered Forest CLT.

Forest CLT has been around since 2018 and was founded by local residents Tanja Pfitzner and Sue Higgins who both dreamt of creating sustainable community housing in Waltham Forest, and have seen members coming together behind this vision.

Hannah explains the land trust is united around “a framework that takes everything from mental health to ecological sustainability into account”.

 

As well as building homes controlled by its members, Forest CLT is committed to working with the community to add public resources such as cafes, yoga spaces and accessible toilets.

“We want to build a community hub,” Hannah tells me, “not just for ourselves, but for everyone who lives in the local area.”

Getting the fire started

Hannah says the trust’s proposed development in Walthamstow will comprise of over 50 properties, to support the community facilities.

“Our dream is to create an affordable, mixed tenure community,” she tells me. “We’ll have social housing for council tenants, affordable rental properties where the rent would be based on people’s earnings, and some properties for sale at reasonable prices.”

The first stage in achieving this dream is to access a suitable site. The Trust has identified several sites and is negotiating with the council to develop these.

They are being supported by Lev, CLH London’s Director. Lev has attended the Trust’s board meetings and discussions, helping to steer conversations and offer advice where it’s been needed. “He has been instrumental in our success,” Hannah tells me, “helping us put together a plan for sites we have our hearts set on, looking at how and what we’d build.”

 

Crucial support from CLH London

“Community Led Housing London has been essential in galvanising us and giving us momentum,” Hannah continues.

Forest CLT have also produced a robust financial model, helping to prove the long-term value and financial sustainability of their project. It became clear that Forest CLT should also consider a pilot scheme in Leyton.

If successful, Forest CLT could use this scheme as a springboard for a much larger project in Walthamstow. The first stage in this process is to bid for land, which they could develop into a small community space with homes.

Hannah can’t tell me too much about the progress of this project just yet, as the Leyton site is yet to be released, but she is confident Forest CLT’s model will prove robust.

 

 

A growing membership

As well as working closely with CLH London, the group has been able to successfully apply for various pots of funding. “The National Community Land Trust Network were offering funding called ‘Cohesive Communities’,” Hannah explains. “I helped to work on that funding application, with some other Forest CLT members, and we won it.”

Forest CLT is using part of this funding to grow its membership, focusing particularly on recruiting members from more diverse backgrounds so that it can be more representative of this part of London.

The group has recently hired a professional to help build connections within the local community. It is also making a short film and redeveloping its website to help spread the message.

“The drive is going well,” Hannah tells me. “We already have around 100 members, but ideally we’d like many more, especially people from more diverse backgrounds who are eager to get involved.”

 

Looking to the future

Hannah hopes the trust can achieve its ambitions, not least “so that we can be an inspiration to others.”

As she puts it: “There’s massive power in people coming together and having a voice. People are very powerful when they join forces. The way housing in London going is not sustainable. There needs to be an alternative.”

For Hannah and many other members of Forest CLT, community led housing not only provides a way to escape London’s unaffordable and unattainable housing cycle, but to take back ownership of their community.

And they’re delighted to have so many resources there to help them – especially the expertise and support available from Community Led Housing London.

“Community Led Housing London has taken us seriously, supported us and encouraged us. They’ve had confidence in us, which has helped us feel confident in ourselves. They’ve played a key role in helping us move forward.”

 

 

Find out more about Forest CLT

Forest CLT’s short film introducing themselves and their ideas:

You can read more about Forest CLT by following their Facebook page. There is also a monthly ‘Meet Forest CLT’ zoom catch up on the first of every month – joining details are on their Facebook page.

 

Have you got an idea for a community led housing project in London?

To learn more about the kinds of support available, visit our support page, sign up to our mailing list or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @CLHLondon to find out about upcoming events and training.

 

Laura, our new coordinator at CLH London, recently caught up with Ameen Lilani of Zahra Housing Co-op to learn about his journey to create purpose-built homes for his community in Harrow.

 

Priced out of his own community

“My story,” Ameen begins, “is the same as millions of people in the UK.”

He tells me that despite working hard and taking part in his community, he has found it impossible to get his foot on the property ladder in London.

“I’ve been evicted several times,” he explains. “Not because I didn’t pay the rent, but usually because the landlord wanted to sell up.”

“The last time I was evicted, my family and I ended up living in a hotel room for a month. It was the worst experience of our lives.”

As a father and husband, Ameen wants nothing more than to escape the renting cycle, to plant roots in London and offer some stability to his family.

But knowing that buying privately or through shared ownership would be almost impossible for him, he decided to look elsewhere. That was when he came across community led housing.

 

An early pioneer

In 2017, Harrow Council and the Mayor of London began to explore innovative ways of helping local people build their own homes.

The initiative went largely unnoticed at the time – some people thought it was too good to be true – but fleet-footed Ameen decided to act right away. He approached Harrow Council to ask for information.

“I went to a few meetings and workshops with them,” he explains, “and got to meet other people who were interested in the idea.” Ameen would go on to start a community organisation with some of these people, which they called Zahra Housing.

Their next step was to secure funding – but in order to do that, they first needed to raise their profile.

 

Zahra Housing Co-op becomes official

Ameen reached out to the Confederation of Cooperative Housing to find out what Zahra needed to do to access funding.

“They told me the best way to get started was to turn our community into a non-profit co-operative,” he says. “This would help us to stand out when we approached Harrow Council.”

This proved to be a vital step. When Zahra Housing Co-op approached Harrow Council for funding in 2017, they were offered a start-up grant to help them find a plot of land.

But in Ameen’s own words, “we still didn’t really know what we were doing at the time.”

Fortunately for him, the next time he reached out for help and advice, a new entity had appeared on the scene: Community Led Housing London (CLH London).

 

How we helped 

When the team first met Zahra Housing Co-op, they were already well on their way. The team helped by providing the advice they needed to take things to the next level.

Explaining how CLH London got involved, Ameen tells me they “helped give us structure.”

“With their experience in housing, they were able to tell us what we needed to do in simple terms. All we had to do was follow their advice.”

Our Project Director, Lev helped Zahra Housing Co-op create their first tender and identify a number of suitable architects to send it to.

Then, Senior Project Adviser, Gemma helped the community create a brochure, which they later gave to Harrow Council. It outlined the community’s plan to build three homes on a brownfield site and included drawings designed by an architect.

This brochure helped convince the council to support Zahra Housing Co-op’s project and it wasn’t long before they were able to enter pre-planning. They were then able to achieve an agreement in principle from a finance provider to fund construction.

“CLH London told us what to do and we did it,” Ameen explains. “Without their help, we’d have been lost. It’s not an easy project, which is why you need expert advice – and that’s where CLH London came in.”

 

Wheels in motion

With plans and funding begining to fall into place, Zahra Housing Co-op will soon be looking to build their homes.

After years of trying to purchase his own home in his local borough, Ameen admits to feeling a little overwhelmed.

“Harrow means family to me. Harrow means community. I’m excited to finally be able to plant roots here,” he says.

“And I have nothing but positive things to say about Community Led Housing London. If it wasn’t for them, this project wouldn’t have happened.”

I ask Ameen what advice he would give to other people wishing to get started with community led housing.

“Start with your own community,” he says. “Find other people in the same boat as you.

“Then make sure you learn the skills and knowledge you will need down the line. You’ll learn as you go with CLH London’s help. Go to their workshops and immerse yourself in the world of co-operative housing.”

 

Start building your home today

The final question I ask Ameen is: have you enjoyed it?

“Yes,” he replies. “I’ve had lots of fun along the way.

“Housing in London has got to change. It’s become a profit-making commodity and spiralled out of control. This is why we’re committed to making our cooperative not-for-profit. We’re trying to make a real difference.”

Zahra Housing Co-op now believe they are less than two years away from moving into their own community-built home in Harrow.

“This is something we never thought we could do and we’ve gained lots of knowledge along the way,” Ameen says. “And we couldn’t have done it without Community Led Housing London.”

 

Have you got an idea for a community led housing project in London?

To learn more about the kinds of support available, visit our support page, sign up to our mailing list or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @CLHLondon to find out about upcoming events and training.

Rowan, one of our senior advisors, recently caught up with members of London Older Lesbian Cohousing (LOLC) to hear how they came by cohousing and their plans to build a 25-home scheme in East London.

Pioneering Cohousing for London’s Lesbians

Like many communities building homes with Community Led Housing London, LOLC started as little more than an idea.

“I was chatting with friends about how we wanted to live as we got older,” explains Jude Watson, who has been with the group since its institution in 2016. “We all agreed we didn’t want to be living alone in our old age – we wanted to be with like-minded people from our own community.”

Jude tells me how, in old age, lesbian women are less likely to have children and more likely to be single, which can make it harder for them to get the care and support they need.

“Being older and lesbian adds an extra element to life in old age,” she says.

That’s why Jude and her friends decided to start LOLC – to create a “community with intent” and live alongside people with shared interests and ideas.

 

“We are all Londoners”

Opening Doors London estimates there to be 100,000 older LGBT people living in London. However, the city has limited housing options to support this community in old age.

Even so, there was never any question about where LOLC wanted to establish its home.

“We’re all Londoners,” Jude explains. “Most of the women in our group were either born in London or moved here long ago. We’re from all over London, and we want to stay here.”

Cathie Sutton, who joined LOLC in 2017, has been in London for most of her life and can think of no other place she’d rather live. “I love it here,” she says, “even though it can be a difficult city to live in.”

When LOLC is completed, it will become London’s first purpose-built all-LBGT cohousing community, creating a unique and valuable resource for generations of older lesbians to come.

 

As Jude puts it, this will allow everyone at LOLC to live “freely and authentically” in their old age.

“Living this way,” she adds, “has been shown to have many benefits, both mentally and physically.”

Gaining expertise through CLH London

When Community Led Housing London hosted its first workshop in 2017, LOLC was one of the groups in the room at the time.

Jude was at that session. She remembers being introduced to all sorts of people, including representatives from housing associations, London borough councils and many different advisors.

“If they hadn’t been there that day, I don’t think we’d be where we are now,” she tells me.

What is Community Led Housing London? We’re a resource and advice hub that helps communities meet experts, learn new skills and get their projects off the ground.

We teach groups how to do things like create policies and procedures, apply for funding and finance and find and bid on a site. We host regular training workshops where you can meet potential partners and other community groups looking to build new homes.

For Jude, that first session was a chance to recruit a consultant who had experience working on a similar project.

“CLH London have supported us ever since that first session,” Jude continues. “That’s taken some of the pressure off, which has allowed us to focus on building our community.”

The first steps towards cohousing

Over the following years, LOLC continued to work closely with Community Led Housing London. We put them in touch with consultants, advised them on how to become a limited company and helped them to seek funding.

“Creating a cohousing community can take ages,” Jude says. “But thanks to CLH London’s support and guidance, we were put in touch with the right people to help us through those processes. It really sped everything up.”

“And with the funding we received, we were able to host our own workshops with experts,” Jude tells me. “We even hired a mentor who had experience with other community led housing projects.”

A place to call home

Identifying a site was another major milestone we helped LOLC to achieve.

One of their key criteria was to find a site close to an urban centre in East London. As Jude explains, LOLC members see themselves as urban dwellers. For this reason, they have had to pass on a number of sites, including some in rural areas.

But, shortly before the coronavirus pandemic, the group identified a site in Walthamstow and are working with a London housing association to appoint architects and develop concepts for their new home.

 

“Working with Community Led Housing London really helped us to reach this stage quicker than we thought we would,” Jude says.

Both Jude and Cathie are growing ever more excited as they move ever closer to laying the foundations of their new home – though they acknowledge the project is still several years off completion.

Nonetheless, they feel confident thanks to the support Community Led Housing London has to offer.

How to get started

Community Led Housing London continues to offer free support for anyone interested in starting their own housing project.

“I think it’s really good idea,” says Jude. “And really empowering. It’s people doing it for themselves. And having a resource like CLH London really enables that.”

If you’re looking to kick off your own cohousing project in London, get in touch to find out everything you need to get started.

As Cathie puts it: “To live healthier happier lives, community led housing is the way forward. I would definitely encourage it – it’s hard work, but it will lead to a healthier, happier, kinder community.”

 

 

Have you got an idea for a community led housing project in London?

To learn more about the kinds of support available, visit our support page, sign up to our mailing list or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @CLHLondon to find out about upcoming events and training.