Funding 2016–present  

Projects funded under Decent Affordable Homes Phases Two and Three can be found below. These projects were funded from 2016 onwards. Some projects are ongoing while others are complete. 


Centre for Social Justice (Living Rent Project)
Developing an alternative income-linked rent approach to affordable housing.

Frameworks Institute 
Developing language that builds public support for housing reform, Talking About Housing uses social science to make change happen.

Homeless Link
Scaling up the Housing First model, which gives people who are homeless affordable, stable housing as an important first step.

Housing Justice
Accessing land for the delivery of genuinely affordable housing for people in Wales.

Knowle West Media Centre 
Expanding the We Can Make project that unlocks plots of land and builds truly affordable homes on post-war housing estates.

Town and Country Planning Association
Drafting and gaining support for a Healthy Homes Bill that will legislate for improved decency standards in new homes.

Cambridge Centre for Housing and Planning Research
Research that explored how co-housing of students and older people can work as a housing solution.

Housing Justice
Faith in Affordable Housing explored how surplus land owned by faith organisations can be used for truly affordable housing across Wales.

Institute for Public Policy Research
Research that considered the viability of ‘Living Rent’; a model which links rents to incomes to make renting more affordable.

Knowle West Media Centre
Support for the first stage of We Can Make, which explored the potential for affordable homes on post-war housing estates.

National Housing Federation
Developing the Homes at the Heart campaign, which aims for social housing to be central to the post-Covid economic recovery.

Sheffield Hallam University
Research that looked at the future role of social lettings agencies to help improve tenants’ experiences in the private rented sector.

Shekinah Mission
A pilot scheme to test how councils can implement Housing First, where homeless people are given stable homes and support.

The Smith Institute’s Affordable Housing Commission
The Affordable Housing Commission looked at the housing system and how to end affordability problems by 2045.

The Smith Institute
Research that looked at the potential and achievements of local housing companies and how they deliver affordable homes.

Town and Country Planning Association
Research that considered options for councils to build truly affordable homes, and what government can do to make it easier.

Town and Country Planning Association
Research to empower councils to negotiate with developers, so that they deliver more truly affordable homes.

West Kensington & Gibbs Green Community Homes
A project that tested whether community Right to Transfer laws could be used to save threatened social housing estates.

The Young Foundation
A programme that supported new ideas to tackle affordability and decency problems for private renters.

Infrastructure support
One of the Nationwide Foundation’s aims for the Backing Community-Led Housing programme is that the infrastructure of the community-led housing sector should be strengthened. To deliver this we have funded various organisations to explore how infrastructure support can be provided, particularly through regional support hubs.

Communities Housing Trust
Supporting community-led housing across central and northern Scotland.

Cwmpas – Communities Creating Homes
Building the capacity, scale and sustainability of the co-operative and community-led housing sector in Wales.

South of Scotland Community Housing
Supporting community-led housing across the south of Scotland.


Other funding

Leeds Community Homes
Exploring ways to support people from black and minority ethnic communities to be part of the community-led housing sector.

CAF Venturesome (Community Led Housing Fund)
Investing in CAF Venturesome’s Community-led Housing Fund, which hopes to deliver around 1,000 truly affordable homes.

Community Land Trust Network
Supporting the ongoing work of the Community Land Trust Network, which assists groups in England and Wales.

Infrastructure support
One of the Nationwide Foundation’s aims for the Backing Community-Led Housing programme is that the infrastructure of the community-led housing sector should be strengthened. To deliver this we have funded various organisations to explore how infrastructure support can be provided, particularly through regional support hubs.

Cwmpas
Backing community-led housing groups in Wales, Communities Creating Homes provided expertise and support to new projects.

Wessex Community Assets
Support for Wessex Community Assets, an organisation that developed a sustainable hub for Devon, Dorset and Somerset.

East Midlands Community-Led Housing
Supporting community-led housing across the East Midlands.

Other funding

Action with Communities in Rural England
Action with Communities in Rural England delivered training for professionals in the community-led housing sector.

Community Land Trust Network
Funding Community Led Homes, a partnership organisation offering support and guidance to community-led housing groups.

Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust
A one-stop online toolkit bringing together documentation and resources needed to build community-led homes.

National Custom and Self Build Association
Managed by the National Custom and Self Build Association, this funding supports the foundation of the Right to Build Taskforce.

New Economics Foundation
An open-access land map, which identifies unused public land that could be released to build truly affordable homes.

New Economics Foundation
Research into how public organisations dispose of land, so that more can be used for truly affordable homes.

Sheffield Hallam University
A study exploring the speed of development of community-led housing projects.

Wales Cooperative Centre
Research that considered the wellbeing benefits of living in co-operative and community-led housing. 

Tenant voice programme
One of the Nationwide Foundation’s aims for the Transforming the Private Rented Sector programme is that tenants should be central to any changes to the private rented sector. To support this endeavour, we have funded a diverse range of seven tenant voice projects to ensure that the voices of the nation’s renters are heard when new policy is formulated.

Other funding
Fair Housing Futures

Collaborating to find and fund system-wide solutions to transform renting in Greater Manchester for vulnerable tenants.

Generation Rent
Positively influencing the upcoming Renters’ Reform Bill, this coalition is made up of renters’ support organisations.

Indigo House
Seeking to understand the impact of changes to private renting in Scotland, Rent Better will share lessons for reform elsewhere.

Camden Federation of Private Tenants – Renters’ Rights London
This project allowed councils in London to improve their support for renters and empowered tenants to make their voices heard.

Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York
A seminal review from Dr Julie Rugg into England’s private rented sector, published alongside a report into the experiences of vulnerable tenants. 

Centre for Housing Policy at the University of York
Research from Dr Julie Rugg and Dr Alison Wallace into the least expensive end of England’s private rented sector.

University of Huddersfield
Research that assessed the impact of Covid-19 on people living in poor quality homes in the north of England.

Find out more about our strategy Questions about our funding? Contact us