Access to stable, good quality, safe and comfortable housing is a necessity. Often those who are marginalised face systematic and structural barriers to accessing land and housing. Community-led housing and land trust initiatives are methods of collectivised resistance, placing land in the hands of a collective with shared interests as a means to build solutions to wider systemic issues.
This 3-part series, facilitated by Claude Hendrickson, will serve as an introductory exploration into the power and methodology of collectivising housing and land acquisition.
While each community-led housing and land trust project can look radically different - unique in its aims and configuration - these workshops, informed by histories of Black community-led housing actions, will provide foundational tools vital to executing these projects.
Claude Hendrickson is an accredited Community Led Housing advisor and Land Trust ambassador with over 2 decades of dedication to housing, social justice and impactful project delivery. He was recently awarded an MBE for his contributions in the Self Build and Community Housing sector and commissioned by Leeds City Council in 2015 to write a Self-Build 10-year strategy. Claude regularly runs workshops, sharing his expertise in identifying self-builders, securing funding, managing stakeholders and overseeing the house building process.
Nourishing Economics are pleased to present a series of workshops and talks that present how economic justice links to other forms of social injustice. This series presents our work and partnerships with activists and grassroots groups who are working to fight structural inequality across prison abolition, queer liberation, disability justice and reparative justice.
These events fall into Nourishing Economic’s strategy to make decolonial economic thinking more available and accessible to the wider community, by upholding the work of those working on these integral social justice spaces.
This event is for Black and People of Colour in the UK looking to skill up on alternatives to racial capitalism. If you do not identify in BPOC, but are interested in supporting this work, please be in touch with info@decolonisingeconomics.org.
OVERALL AIMS
- Teaching the fundamentals of acquiring and holding land - types of community led initiatives, benefits of each type as well as drawbacks,
- Processes and players needed to move a project forward
- Meeting enablers and building relationships necessary to spark interaction and organising
SESSION 1: COMMUNITY LED HOUSING: WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS?
Session details: 5:30-7pm, Wednesday 2nd October 2024, online (Zoom)
SESSION 2: SETTING UP A COMMUNITY LED HOUSING & COMMUNITY LAND TRUST PROJECT
Session details: 5:30-7pm, Wednesday 9th October 2024, online (Zoom)
SESSION 3: MEETING THE ENABLERS
Session details: TBC
ACCESSIBILITY
Sessions 1 and 2 will be happening online, on Zoom. We will use live captions and record the conversation using Otter so that the event can be rewatched alongside its transcription.
Read on below for details about each session.
SESSION 1: COMMUNITY LED HOUSING: WHAT ARE THE OPTIONS?
Session details: 5:30-7pm, Wednesday 2nd October 2024, online (Zoom)
This first session will explore the history and fundamentals of community led housing and community land trust strategies rooted in Black liberation history. It will be a starting point to those interested in land stewarding and house building that meets our communities needs over generations - through collective ownership and governance models.
What to expect:
- Some insights into the Black history of Community Land Trusts and self-build projects
- Understanding the differences between CLT, community housing, cooperatives and self-build
- Exploring the strengths and challenges of each of these options and their role in community self determination
- What role do these housing strategies play in addressing racial inequality - explored through Claude’s organising experience
What you will leave with:
- Confidence articulating and distinguishing between various collective land and housing strategies
- Insights into their various strengths and challenges based on context, resource and community need
- A chance to understand the legacy of Black and people of colour in the history of collective land and housing strategies
SESSION 2: SETTING UP A COMMUNITY LED HOUSING & COMMUNITY LAND TRUST PROJECT
Session details: 5:30-7pm, Wednesday 9th October 2024, online (Zoom)
This follow up session will explore the various processes that you will need to undertake to set up a collective housing or CLT project. It will explore the necessary skills, resources and partnerships that will help get you started as a group. This session is useful for any BPOC group that is keen to understand how it can prepare itself to undertake such work.
What to expect:
- An overview of the more technical aspects of collective housing and CLT projects
- A clear understanding of what you and your community will need in order to get started
- A reality check on the challenges and complications that may present themselves that are often not anticipated
What you will leave with:
- Greater direction and guidance on which housing and land strategy would best meet your community’s needs
- Stronger relationships and connections with BPOC experts in this area
- A direction for where to go next to explore these different strategies further
SESSION 3: MEETING THE ENABLERS
This session will be an in-person meet up in Birmingham, and an opportunity to meet enablers and community led housing advisors in which you will have the opportunity to hear about their journeys and good practice. Open to those in the Nourishing Economics community, Decolonising Economic's network, and associate organisations.
Session details: TBC
Please sign up for a ticket to hear more details about these events and receive joining instructions.