The Future of the neighbourhood is in your hands.
About
NW3 CLT is the first registered North London Community Land Trust and was set up in April 2016. Our not-for-profit organisation has over the last 5 years campaigned for affordable and key workers housing in NW3 and adjoining postcodes, grown our membership to over 130 members, and developed a detailed business plan to develop our first affordable housing project in NW3. We want to help ensure that NW3 is an accessible, socially mixed and culturally diverse neighbourhood.
Community Land Trusts (CLTs) are community-led local organisations set up and run by ordinary people to develop and manage homes as well as other assets important to that community, such as; community enterprises, food growing areas, or workspaces. As a CLT that is focused on housing our main task is to make sure that homes are genuinely affordable, based on what people actually earn in our area, not just for now but for all future occupiers. You can read our draft allocations’ policy here.
We are supported by the Community led Housing Hub London.
What we do?
We currently are working on our first affordable housing project in the NW3 area which will aim to provide over a dozen homes for people who work or live locally. Over the past five years, we have worked to identify and appraise unused and underused properties in NW3 and the adjoining postcodes with the view of developing them in a way that maximises the provision of affordable housing. With our first project, we aim to either retain, repurpose or reuse as much of the building and its materials as possible.
We have also for the past five years worked to raise awareness about the erosion of affordable housing stock in our area and the growing need to provide such housing in order to sustain an integrated yet diverse community - something NW3 has historically had but which is now endangered. We hope to use our upcoming project to showcase how this vision can become a reality.
How we do it?
We work together to leverage our skills as a community and as individuals from diverse backgrounds to contribute to our vision. Our first project will be funded through a combination of private and public investment and grants, and in partnership with commercial developers and registered housing providers. While we will utilise the expertise of our funders and registered providers our CLT will be closely involved in both the development of our project and the management of our properties.
As members of the National CLT Network, we seek to influence developments in national housing policies. To do this we work with Voluntary Action Camden, the Hampstead Neighbourhood Forum and via local media and social media.
Please join us if you want to get involved and find out more!
Why NW3 CLT?
I have lived and worked in NW3 for over 25 years. In NW3 I'm at home. But with house prices growing exponentially and only a handful of affordable flats built in recent years, it has become impossible for many people and, in particular key workers, to settle here. People who have called it home, worked here or have some other connection with this amazing place are also being excluded. […]
[…] The London Borough of Camden is under financial pressure and is trying to balance the books by selling off our assets for exclusive residential developments. This short term gain is reducing the long term viability of the area. We don’t want NW3 to be just the cash cow for the rest of Camden.
In the last five years we have lost well over 100 affordable units – Nurses Home in New End, Westfield Student Accommodation in Kiddepore Avenue, Hyelm Student Hostel in Fitzjohn's Avenue Sheltered Housing in Wells Court, Oriel Place, Branch Hill. They were all sold on the open market to make way for luxury developments.
At the same time, Right to Buy, which all Social Housing and Housing Association tenants can exercise, is depleting the affordable stock in the area even further. We need to take action to counteract this trend.
Following advice from the National CLT Network, and other CLTs around the country who are already doing this, we have set up the NW3 Community Land Trust. NW3 CLT is incorporated as a Community Benefit Society, aiming to create affordable housing solutions in our neighbourhood.
Sadiq Khan has promised to help build 1,000 CLT homes as part of his Mayoral election pledge, DCLG has pledged £60m for community housing. Other social impact investors have set up specific funds to help CLTs across the country. We are joining a growing movement that aims to take back control of our communities.
But we can only do this if we do it together. We need your membership in order to make our voice carry further, to halt the loss of affordable housing and ultimately to help reach the investment needed to fulfill our aims. Together we can build an organisation that is led and owned by the community. Please join us by becoming a member today.
Sanya Polescuk, Founding Member
Image by Marc Barrot