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Working with a Housing Association or Development Trust

Housing associations that have access to grants from the Homes & Communities Agency have ongoing programmes of new housing development or acquisition. Where they are willing to make this expertise available to local communities they could be extremely helpful partners for a CLT, providing development expertise, knowledge of good local architects and other professionals, knowledge of local builders and established contacts with local authority housing and planning officials. They could offer a development service, or simply some general mentoring or assistance. This could even extend to covering the risk of securing planning permission and providing access to development or long term finance.

Not all housing associations will be ready to provide this help and may even see a CLT as competition for the limited grant funds or development opportunities available. Those who have an “In Business for Neighbourhoods” designation may be those most likely to be willing to help.

Development Trusts are a diverse set of multi-purpose organisations with local community, regeneration and 'place shaping' aims which may coincide with your own. Like CLTs they are community-led with a diverse range of enterprise and assets behind each one. Although they are multi-purpose, many development trusts have also developed housing and should in any case be consulted to assist in planning at a community level.

If a development trust exists in your area, they are likely to have experience of how they have addressed local economic and social issues through community ownership and enterprise. Their experience in this along with their understanding of governance issues, financial development and sustaining community alliances between public, voluntary and private interests may be useful for emerging CLTs. They may be particularly useful should you intend on developing assets beyond housing.

The Development Trusts Association is the national body representative of development trusts. Their website (www.dta.org.uk) has a database of members across the country with contact details and also offers membership to CLTs that meet their criteria.