Provision of Loneliness and Community Led Housing Research

Tender description

The objective of this project is to understand the impact of cohousing in reducing loneliness. A secondary objective is to build support for this type of housing and encourage commissioners and Housing Associations to consider the social impact of these models when planning new housing. This research project aims to galvanise support for the community led housing sector, particularly with councils and commissioners to support Government's aim of growing the community led housing sector. The Government is making available £163 million across England up to 2020 to 2021 through the Community Housing Fund. The community-led approach to house building galvanises local support and is driven by the commitment and energy of the very individuals and communities that it will benefit. This local support means that this sector is able to deliver locally affordable new homes in places and on sites where commercial speculative house builders cannot. As a result of the close engagement and creativity of local people, the community-led model typically delivers high design quality, high standards of construction and energy efficiency, and uses progressive, innovative building techniques. It supports the smaller house building companies and helps sustain the local economy by providing homes that are affordable at local incomes. For all of these reasons, the Government wishes to see the community-led house-building sector grow. Despite the benefits of community-led house building, the sector in the UK remains very small compared to many other countries in Europe and North America, currently delivering only around 400 units per year in England - less than 0.3% of total housing output. Through conversations with industry, researchers and charity partners the Authority is aware that there is an appetite to measure the impact and raise awareness of the social impact of community led housing and co-housing in particular.