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What is needed to finance sustainable homes

I work to provide affordable, environmental and sustainable homes through local communities, with as much self-help and mutual co-operation as possible to encourage a sense of ownership and commitment.

This requires and should incorporate the use of local labour (ideally involving the recipient of the home), local materials that are low-carbon in manufacture and maintenance, and, wherever possible, local renewable energy.

This all requires innovative ways of attracting finance for the initial build phase and the ongoing repayment, either by way of a mortgage, rental or combinations of both by way of forms of rent-to-buy or partial ownership.

The largest cost involved in all of this is usually the cost of obtaining the land. In certain projects, this is being achieved by local or central governments who provide the land from stock available at brownfield sites, redundant publicly owned sites or similar areas. These can be given to the community for free or at a pepper-corn rent or placed under the ownership and supervision of community land trusts or similar organizations.

There is also the ability and need to carry out renovation projects for run-down, but structurally sound, premises. These are often in neighbourhoods where there has been a strong community spirit that is deteriorating due to a lack of funding for renovation. It is far more cost-effective and desirable to maintain these communities.

The ability to create the necessary environment and various funding sources will help maintain or create sustainable communities with reductions in enforced mobility and crime rates.