Roadmapping A Viable Community-Led Housing Sector For Ireland
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Roadmapping A Viable
Community-Led Housing
Sector For Ireland
PROJECT LAUNCH WHAT IS COMMUNITY-LED HOUSING
AND WHAT IS ITS RELEVANCE FOR
Thursday 13th May 2021,
IRELAND?
12-13:30pm Across Ireland, community groups are exploring
ways to collectively create their own homes together.
There is an approach to housing creation -
THE PROJECT - “ROADMAPPING A Community-Led Housing - evolving across
VIABLE COMMUNITY-LED HOUSING Europe and the wider world, which empowers
“Community-Led Housing is an SECTOR FOR IRELAND” communities to develop solutions addressing
Community-Led Housing (CLH) is a ground- their particular housing needs. CLH provides
example of bottom-up, active up approach, which enables groups of people a framework for cooperation in the creation
citizenship as its best, with the to pool their assets and collective resources to
create homes and communities which meet their
and revitalisation of new and existing
neighbourhoods.
potential to put the humanistic particular needs, whatever they may be, in a
sustainable manner. The unique feature of CLH is the empowerment
perspective of housing provision of future residents to meaningfully participate
centre stage, with communities
Supported by The Housing Agency, The Land in both the design and long-term management
Development Agency, Ó Cualann Cohousing of their homes. Although no two CLH projects
and citizens at the heart of Alliance and the Goethe Institut Irland, SOA
Research CLG have coordinated a 12-month
are the same, they all share a common goal
of meeting specific local housing needs via
neighbourhood development, multi-stakeholder research project to roadmap a collaboration, empowerment and mutual support.
CLH infrastructure for Ireland.
embracing the idea of homes CLH is premised on the conviction that a house
as a social good.” The resulting publication, ‘Roadmapping a Viable
Community-Led Housing Sector for Ireland,’
is not just a building, or an asset, or a ‘unit’, it is a
home: a place to live. As such, CLH approaches
comprises a series of handbooks on the subject take a holistic view of housing and strive to ensure
PRESIDENT MICHAEL D. HIGGINS of CLH, offering guidance in the areas of Policy, the social, environmental and economic well-
Finance, Land and ‘Getting Your Group Ready’. being of inhabitants.
Irish CLH Groups
Inspired by the growing international
Community-Led Housing movement, as well as
traditional meitheal and cooperative approaches THE IRISH REGENERATIVE
LAND TRUST, Nationwide ARTHOUSE, Dublin
to community building in Ireland, people are
IRLT aim to address the climate crisis through A cooperative of artists
coming together to take initiative in solving their community action, by placing land into ecological and community workers
local housing needs. trust and democratic stewardship whose aim is to provide
affordable housing and
community arts projects
These needs require a multi-faceted approach,
one that acknowledges that quality housing
must address multiple factors, including long-
term affordability. Social cohesion, innovative
environmental design, self-help and skills
training, empowerment of marginalised groups HOPE & HOMES, Galway
and addressing loneliness are just some of Tackling the problems of homelessness and
the concerns that these groups are striving to unemployment by constructing affordable
COMMON GROUND
housing in Galway City, and by providing
address on their own terms. COHOUSING, Bray
support to its community
Establishing the first Mutual
Home Ownership Society in
Ireland, to provide secure,
CLOUGHJORDAN affordable, and flexible
COHOUSING housing for 27 households.
“What we’re aiming for here is Developing a ‘Climate-Smart
Pocket Neighbourhood’ as a
Designing housing that is
sustainable in every way
neighbourhoods. It has partly model of cooperatively-owned
cohousing in Cloughjordan
to do with architecture, partly Ecovillage
to do with geography, but it
also has very much to do with
human participation. Society is INCLUSIVE
NEIGHBOURHOODS,
opening up to people living as Callan
COLLABORATIVE
active citizens in a participative HOUSING LIMERICK
CORK CITY
Addressing the integration of
people with support needs and
society, and how are we going
Aim to be part of creating a COHOUSING low incomes in neighbourhoods
collaborative housing solution that actively support neighbourly
Aim to provide agency for
to embody that? How are we
for Limerick, with the belief that relationships
a community-led approach can their members in building
address many more societal their own future, delivering
going to build that?” problems than housing alone perpetually affordable homes
and offering an example to
others as how to do this
Patrick Lydon
Aims Of This Research Project The Publications
The goal of the project is the establishment of a Community-Led Housing sector in Ireland that
supplements and augments existing routes to creating social an affordable housing in Ireland.
PROJECT OVERVIEW
This handbook provides a broad
overview of the project aims and findings.
The project aims to develop recognition Recommendations are founded on It is addressed to all who are interested in
developing the Community-Led Housing
of CLH as an approach that empowers low comprehensive research of supportive policy for sector in Ireland.
and middle income families to mobilise and Community-Led Housing in the European Union
develop housing that meets their present and and the UK. Clear recommendations are made for
future needs. It aims to develop a sector that policy development in line with international best
understands housing as a social good. practice and competition law. POLICY HANDBOOK
This handbook summarises the policy
context which supports CLH in countries
The publication is intended to inform policy A priority of the work has been to outline a basis such as the UK, Germany, Belgium,
decisions which can facilitate a broad variety of for policy that will enable future civic partnerships France and Switzerland. It recommends
policy initiatives which can support the
approaches to CLH. The handbooks identify between state and local authorities, communities sector in Ireland, and is addressed most
current financial and legal roadblocks and and other stakeholders that make the best specifically towards Irish policymakers.
suggest measures to address these. They use of state land for the long-term benefit of
further explore existing policy instruments and communities.
FINANCE HANDBOOK
mechanisms that could be utilised to enable the This handbook examines available
delivery of projects. The handbooks serve as guidance and information financial approaches for CLH in Ireland
to policymakers, Irish CLH groups, related and recommends measures to ensure
a viable sector. It is addressed most
stakeholders, and the wider public generally. specifically towards Irish policymakers and
financial institutions.
LAND HANDBOOK
ROADMAPPING This handbook describes sustainable
approaches to land management which
Each handbook contains a roadmap
facilitate the creation of homes that are
or a series of roadmaps that set affordable in perpetuity. It is addressed
out in a simple infographic how a most specifically towards Irish local
authorities, land management agencies
Community-Led Housing project and other landowners.
might be developed in Ireland.
GETTING YOUR GROUP READY
The Overview handbook contains
HANDBOOK
three ‘Master’ roadmap diagrams, This handbook provides an Early-Stage
and each of the other handbooks Guide to developing a CLH project,
including practical guidance on key
contain detailed roadmaps specific steps of the process. It is addressed
to their subject matter. most specifically towards Irish
Community-Led Housing groups.
Community-Led Housing in Ireland
WHAT ISSUES CAN COMMUNITY-LED HOUSING
CONTRIBUTE TO ADDRESSING IN IRELAND?
Community-Led Housing can deliver CLH addresses long-term affordability
neighbourhoods as well as homes, in ways that other approaches cannot,
while offering genuine agency to and can provide homes for those who
residents in the co-creation process. are currently locked out of the Irish
housing system.
CLH prioritises community integration
and social cohesion, addressing CLH can be a powerful tool in
loneliness and isolation. addressing town centre renewal across
Ireland. As evidenced internationally it is
CLH projects typically provide an ideal an ideal vehicle to address dereliction
scale to explore innovation in the and vacancy.
design of environmentally sustainable
housing and neighbourhoods.
A variety of European countries provide significant support for Community-Led housing approaches.
There is strong evidence for the benefits of CLH in strengthening communities and delivering
genuinely affordable homes, and much to be learned from existing infrastructures in the UK and EU.
Next Steps / Call To Action
COMMUNITY-LED HOUSING IN THE IRISH CONTEXT Irish groups are developing their projects despite significant
The following description for Community-Led Housing in the Irish context has been challenges in Ireland for cooperative and community-led approaches
proposed by the various stakeholders participating in this project. It is intended to support a to housing. The recommendations set out in this report are intended
common understanding of the essential and defining aspects of Community-Led Housing. to support and accelerate community-led approaches to
neighbourhood development in Ireland.
Community-Led Housing is a socially, environmentally and economically sustainable
approach to housing, with the following features: We invite consideration by Government and policymakers of the
contents and recommendations set out in this publication.
1. Meaningful community engagement 2. The local community group or
and consent throughout the process. The organisation owns, manages or stewards SOA Research would welcome the opportunity to meet with the
community does not necessarily have to the homes in a manner of their choosing. Government to introduce this research and discuss the possible
initiate and manage the development
steps towards implementation of its recommendations.
process, or build the homes themselves, 3. Benefits to the local area and/or
though many do. specified community are clearly defined.
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