University of Birmingham Bringing real localism into practice through co- operative housing governance Lang, Richard; Mullins, David Document Version Publisher's PDF, also known as Version of record Citation for published version (Harvard): Lang, R & Mullins, D 2015 'Bringing real localism into practice through co-operative housing governance: The prospects for community-led housing in England' University of Birmingham, pp. 1-74. <http://www.birmingham.ac.uk/Documents/college-social-sciences/social-policy/IASS/housing/2015/working- paper-series/HCR-WP-1-2015.pdf> Link to publication on Research at Birmingham portal General rights Unless a licence is specified above, all rights (including copyright and moral rights) in this document are retained by the authors and/or the copyright holders. 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Take down policy While the University of Birmingham exercises care and attention in making items available there are rare occasions when an item has been uploaded in error or has been deemed to be commercially or otherwise sensitive. If you believe that this is the case for this document, please contact [email protected] providing details and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate. Download date: 01. Oct. 2021 HCR Housing and Communities Research Group Housing and Communities Research WORKING PAPER 1 Bringing real localism into practice through co-operative housing governance: The prospects for community-led housing in England HAs and Local Authorities Community-led Projects Local Local residents residents Local residents FINAL REPORT OF WILLIAM PLOWDEN FELLOWSHIP Principal Researcher: Asst. Prof. Dr. Richard Lang Institute for Innovation Management (IFI) Johannes Kepler University Linz Supervisor: Professor David Mullins Housing and Communities Research Group University of Birmingham May 2015 Acknowledgements This project was supported by the first William Plowden Fellowship. Thanks to NCVO and the Fellowship Advisory Group for having made this exciting research opportunity in the English West Midlands possible. Thanks to my supervisor David Mullins for excellent support during the study, in locating relevant literature and making the necessary contacts and for help with editing this report. Thanks also to the team at Housing and Communities Research Group and Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC) in Birmingham for providing a stimulating and supportive environment for the fellowship. Thanks to research partners and representatives of the community-led and co-operative housing sectors in England and Wales for valuable comments and feedback during and after the fellowship lecture which helped to improve this report. Thanks in particular to Professor George Jones, Emeritus Professor, London School of Economics, for his comments. Asst. Prof. Dr. Richard Lang Institute for Innovation Management Johannes Kepler University Linz May 2015 2 Table of contents Foreword .......................................................................................................................... 5 Executive summary ........................................................................................................... 7 1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 13 1.1. Problem background ................................................................................................... 13 1.2. Goals of the project ..................................................................................................... 15 1.3. Methods ...................................................................................................................... 15 2. The government’s localism agenda: relevance for the community-led housing sector 16 2.1. Overview on recent localism reforms in England .......................................................... 16 2.2. Political principles for localism reforms ........................................................................ 18 2.2.1. Reducing the burden of bureaucracy ............................................................................ 18 2.2.2. Empowering communities ............................................................................................. 19 2.2.3. Increasing local financial control ................................................................................... 19 2.2.4. Diversifying supply of public services ............................................................................ 21 2.2.5. Opening up to public scrutiny ....................................................................................... 21 2.2.6. Strengthening local accountability ................................................................................ 21 2.2.7. Concluding remarks ....................................................................................................... 22 2.3. Effects of localism reforms on the community-led sector .............................................. 22 3. Structure of the mutual and community-led housing sector ...................................... 23 3.1. Introduction ................................................................................................................ 23 3.2. Overview of the different sub-fields ............................................................................. 25 3.2.1. Co-operative Housing .................................................................................................... 25 3.2.2. Community Land Trusts (CLT) ........................................................................................ 28 3.2.3. Self-help Housing ........................................................................................................... 31 3.2.4. Self-build Housing .......................................................................................................... 32 3.2.5. Co-housing ..................................................................................................................... 34 3.2.6. Tenant Management Organisations (TMOs) ................................................................. 36 3.2.7. Public Housing – Management and Asset Transfer Models .......................................... 37 3.3. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 38 4. The sector’s own approach to localism ..................................................................... 40 4.1. The concept of linking social capital and its governance support ................................... 40 4.2. Case study methodology .............................................................................................. 42 4.3. Case backgrounds ........................................................................................................ 43 4.4. Analysis of residents’ linking social capital in community-led schemes .......................... 45 4.5. Institutional design of community-led models: building linking social capital ................ 48 4.6. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 52 5. Support mechanisms for community-led housing ..................................................... 53 5.1. Main infrastructure needs of community-led groups .................................................... 53 5.2. Sector umbrellas as intermediaries .............................................................................. 54 5.3. Paradoxical relations with HAs ..................................................................................... 54 5.4. Government bodies and local authorities ..................................................................... 56 5.5. Summary ..................................................................................................................... 58 3 6. Relevance of international experiences: Lessons from the Austrian case ................... 59 6.1. Linking social capital: ”Co-operative” HAs as crucial intermediaries .............................. 60 6.2. Institutionalised public promotion of co-operative housing .......................................... 61 6.3. Developer competitions to scale up co-operative elements .......................................... 64 6.4. Umbrella bodies which encourage organisational diversity and innovation ................... 65 6.5. Socially mixed neighbourhoods .................................................................................... 66 6.6. Theme-oriented estates ............................................................................................... 66 6.7. Resident participation.................................................................................................