Teignbridge Council has been awarded 581,303 from the national Community Housing Fund. The local authority was awarded a slice of DCLGs 60M fund to work more closely with communities across the district to provide affordable rented homes, help first-time buyers get on the housing ladder, tackle affordability issues and address the challenge of second home ownership.
The council will use the money and to build on its work in bringing groups of people together so they can explore affordable housing opportunities, including self build. Teignbridge has worked on numerous community-led housing schemes and with Community Land Trusts playing to research different ways to solve local housing problems in ways that may be difficult to achieve through mainstream housing.
Teignbridge has a proven track record in this area having worked with Community Land Trusts in Broadhempston and Christow on schemes that place the community at centre-stage in deciding what type of housing is most needed and enabling homes to be built.
Cllr Humphrey Clemens, Teignbridge District Councils executive member for housing and planning, said: ‘We are delighted to have been offered this money by the DCLG and we welcome the chance to give local residents a helping hand onto the housing ladder.’
‘Teignbridge has a clear, long term strategy to provide affordable housing for our communities and is meeting its housing challenges in many ways. This is articulated in the Council Strategy and the super project a roof over our heads. We are in a better place than others but we see this as a further opportunity to give power to the people and help them build the homes they want.’
The DCLGs fund was launched at the end of 2016 with the aim of helping councils across the nation to tackle the problems associated with having high levels of second home ownership in their communities. The DCLG stated it wanted the fund to go towards supporting local groups to help them deliver different types of affordable housing.
When launching the fund, Housing Minister Gavin Barwell said: ‘The high number of second homes can be a frustration for many who struggle to find an affordable home in their community.’
‘This new fund will help tackle that by boosting supply and make sure community groups are at the heart of delivering new homes so that this is a country that works for everyone.’
