Communities Housing Trust

Enabling the development of and increasing support for the community-led housing sector in Scotland.

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Strategic purpose 

To continue supporting and developing community-led housing projects in northern Scotland and, in collaboration with South of Scotland Community Housing – another of our community-led housing funded partners – raise awareness of the viability of community-led housing by increasing its profile and level of political support in Scotland. It also aims to secure long-term funding for the sector. 

 Why we’re funding this project 

We’ve made long-term commitments to fund community-led housing projects because we believe that if delivered at scale, this form of housing would offer a genuine alternative to the standard (and often failing) method of providing affordable homes. 

 As well as funding Communities Housing Trust to continue providing information and support to communities, increasing its number of active projects, and carrying out its other enabling work, we’re taking advantage of a unique joint-funding opportunity with the Scottish government, which has shown strong cross-party support for the community-led housing sector. Over the next three years, from 2023, we will partner with the government to fund Communities Housing Trust and South of Scotland Community Housing as part of its Remote, Rural and Islands Housing Action Plan, which is informed by its Housing to 2040 strategy, which seeks to deliver genuinely affordable homes in Scotland. 

 The government’s joint funding will also help Communities Housing Trust extend its enabler services, which support community-led housing groups in rural and urban communities in northern Scotland. 

Alongside South of Scotland Community Housing, Communities Housing Trust will work to realise a set of outcomes, including increasing the number of long-term funding options available for community-led housing, raising the profile and awareness of community-led housing in Scotland, delivering more community-led housing in Scotland, and increasing cross-party support for community-led housing among Scottish parliamentarians. 

Project description 

Established in 1998, Communities Housing Trust is a community-led housing enabler providing services to rural and urban communities across northern Scotland. Its long-term vision is to make community-led housing mainstream by growing the sector through inspiration, innovation, and empowerment to the communities it works with. 

We’ve been funding Communities Housing Trust since 2018 to grow the community-led housing sector and develop its enabling work. 

Between 2018 and 2023, Communities Housing Trust has made significant progress, leading to 57 completed homes, providing a place to live for 118 people; support for 115 groups to progress a scheme, with the potential of a pipeline to create up to 1,051 new homes; and 57% of first-time queries from communities and groups now going on to become active groups with plans to develop a scheme.

Back to funding 2016–present