This meeting was the first of the Community-Led Housing Task and Finish Group, a sub-committee of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee of Lewisham Council. It was scheduled to discuss a scoping report that outlined how the sub-committee should investigate the possibilities for community-led housing in Lewisham.

Community-led housing in Lewisham

The meeting was provided with a scoping report entitled 'Community Led Housing Task and Finish Group scoping report 180325 v1'.¹ This report was scheduled to be discussed, and it contained the following information about the group's work.

Background

Lewisham Council has a housing waiting list of over ten thousand people, and approximately three thousand households were living in temporary accommodation in 2024. The report explained that, nationally, there is an acute shortage of affordable housing, and that London has an estimated housing backlog of more than 4 million homes. The Centre for Cities recently estimated that England has a backlog of over four million homes. The report outlined how the Government's target of building 1.5 million homes over the next five years is unlikely to be met. In London, 15 boroughs failed the Government's housing delivery test, which means that they failed to grant enough planning permissions for new homes to meet their targets. Lewisham is one of those boroughs.

The report explained that Lewisham Council's finances are under pressure. The 2024-25 budget was forecast to overspend by £26 million. The Housing Revenue Account also faces significant challenges, with reserves significantly below the 10% minimum recommended level. These pressures mean that Lewisham will have to make significant savings in the coming years.

Lewisham's approach

The report explained how Lewisham Council will approach these challenges by considering the opportunities presented by the Government's new planning policies and the Mayor of London's housing strategy.

Lewisham's Local Plan is currently being inspected by the Planning Inspectorate and is expected to be adopted later in 2025. The Plan contains policies designed to promote smaller sites, particularly those suitable for self-build and custom-build housing. It also explained how the Council is in the process of identifying council-owned small sites that could be released for housing development, including those suitable for community-led schemes.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has a housebuilding strategy that is designed to address the shortage of affordable homes in London. One of the ways this is being done is through the Mayor's Community Housing Fund and Small Sites, Small Builders initiatives.

Community-led housing

The report explained that the term 'Community-Led Housing' encompasses a range of housing models including Community Land Trusts, cohousing, and housing cooperatives.

The term ‘community-led housing’ encompasses a range of different models for community involvement in housing development. Due to the nature of development and the individual characteristics of each community these are broad categories that will exist in different forms in different places.

Lewisham already has a number of community-led housing projects that have been in development for some time. These include the Walter Segal self-build projects, Rural Urban Synthesis at Church Grove, and Citizens' House on Unity Way.

The task and finish group's role

The report concluded by describing what the group was asked to consider in its investigation. This included:

• Reviewing good practice in Lewisham and elsewhere.
• Considering how Lewisham could dispose of land and buildings to community groups.
• Identifying funding models for community-led housing.
• The potential benefits of community-led housing.

Declarations of interest

The meeting was also scheduled to receive a report entitled '02 Declarations of interests'.² This report explained the requirement for Councillors to declare any personal interests they have in any item on the agenda.

The Task and Finish Group's proposal

Finally, the meeting was scheduled to consider a report entitled 'Task and Finish Group Proforma', which had been prepared by Councillor Rudi Schmidt, the Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

The proposal suggested that the Task and Finish Group should investigate how Lewisham Council can support community-led housing by:

• Collating best practice.
• Building networks.
• Leveraging Council assets.
• Engaging with social capital lenders.

It explained that doing these things would:

• Help the Council meet its housing targets.
• Unlock small sites that are unviable for development by the Council.
• Ensure that housing solutions are inclusive, equitable, resilient and sustainable.

Councillor Schmidt's proposal listed a number of sources of information for the group to consider. These included the recently published Lewisham Council Asset Management Strategy, the London Plan, and the Lewisham Housing Strategy (2020-2026).

It also suggested that the group invite a representative from RUSS, a Community Land Trust in Ladywell, and someone from Triodos Bank, a bank that specialises in lending to ethical and sustainable businesses, to attend a future meeting of the group.