Question to the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government:

To ask the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, what steps he is taking to encourage the establishment of greater numbers of housing co-operatives; and if he will make a statement.

The Government continues to demonstrate its support for the community-led housing sector, which offers significant potential for helping to meet housing need across England. In addition to helping increase the rate of delivery of new housing, it will help deliver a range of benefits including diversifying the housebuilding sector, improving design and construction quality, developing modern methods of construction and sustaining local communities and local economies. The support and close involvement of the local community enables the community-led approach to secure planning permission and deliver housing that could not be brought forward through speculative development.

I have recently announced that a new programme to deliver the annual £60 million Community Housing Fund will be launched in January and delivered by Homes England (currently the Homes and Communities Agency). We will be inviting any appropriate organisation – including co-operatives, registered providers and local authorities – to apply for capital and revenue funding. The new programme will run for at least a further 3 years. The announcement can be found here:

https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/community-led-housing

We have also encouraged community-led groups – including housing co-operatives – to apply for funding from the Affordable Homes Programme.