HOMES IN COMMUNITY HANDS (HCH) EVALUATION LEARNING

WMUCH was one of five urban CLH hubs funded under the Power to Change Homes in Community Hands programme along with 37 CLH groups and projects. The programme was evaluated over three years by a team based at Sheffield Hallam University. After sharing learning throughout the programme, some final learning summaries were published earlier this year with key lessons for:

• Policy makers and funders 
• Hubs and enabling support
• and CLH groups

The full third year evaluation report is also available here.

As these outputs show HCH has been a very helpful programme for the CLH movement but perhaps the most relevant finding to our current situation is that:

‘Long term, patient funding and finance is now required for long term impacts. Funding for enabler hubs has been shown to be effective in fostering new projects, but these organisations are facing financial challenges. Resourcing hubs properly will likely be a critical component of any strategy to grow CLH.’

Stirchley Cooperative Development was one of the individual CLH projects informing the evaluation learning including the following 10 point checklist for groups to consider:

1. Develop broad outcomes for the project at an early stage and work for and communicate these with key stakeholders throughout. CLH is about more than housing and the broad outcomes illustrated by these HCH projects have been a key resource in mobilising and retaining support from stakeholders. 
2. Engage with residents and future residents throughout the development process to build a sense of community and sustain interest and active participation. CLH models have a clear advantage over other housing forms in having an active core of participants. 
3. Agree shared values underpinning project goals and empower participants to push for them. ‘CLH would look, feel and work differently without members actively committed to project outcomes and ready to resist challenges to these ideals’. 
4. Draw on the inspiration of earlier successes in the CLH movement and expand on these to meet current local needs and circumstances. The wider movement has inspired and informed local groups who are in turn committed to share learning to support others. This is a key resource for the sustainability of CLH. 
5. Choose development partners carefully based on trust and shared goals. Having the right partner can make an enormous difference at each stage of the process. Practical support, financial and technical resources, judgement and knowledge of the system combined with recognition of the group’s own priorities and right to challenge advice make for an ideal partner.
6. Secure access to land and planning permission without compromising core project aims (e.g. affordability and sustainability). Awareness raising, relationship and alliance building, hard negotiation and lobbying is required to overcome many challenges during the site acquisition and planning process. Even a positive local community led housing policy may prove insufficient to overcome obstacles.
7. Secure appropriate funding for each stage of the development process. With reduced bespoke CLH grants (CHF and HCH) this will become even more challenging. Becoming or partnering with RPs is a key means to access public grants but can restrict tenure models. Community Share issues can help build a membership base and establish local credibility but will usually account for a small proportion of project funding. Lessons in Community Led Housing: (3) For CLH Organisations Page 10 
8. Use democratic decision-making models to keep participants on board and manage complex and challenging decision processes. Sociocracy and democratic cooperative structures with representatives meeting regularly to make key decisions are two practices that can make CLH distinctive and effective. 
9. Link with local ecosystems of support – CLH hubs and wider social economy alliances beyond the housing sector. This can enable projects to build broad impacts without sacrificing independence and can lead to holistic outcomes going well beyond housing. 1
10. Share success stories to build momentum and legitimacy. Sharing aims and celebrating stories of achievements can help keep projects on the map, build confidence and momentum and legitimacy over the long haul of CLH project development. Examples include community share issues and celebratory videos.

Views from local groups, partners and local authorities in the West Midlands are welcome to help WMUCH consider how these lessons can be applied in our region.

David Mullins, Evaluation Team Member