Creating homes that are affordable and sustainable, communities that are strong and resilient
Too often our housing is simply not fit for purpose. Through direct support, training, and project mentoring, we want to inspire and support you to find the solutions that work for you, to make housing more affordable, more sustainable, richer in community and serving the needs of our families. We won’t prescribe solutions, but we will work with you to find the right solutions for you, your community and neighbourhood.
Community-Led Housing
Community Led Housing is housing which has been built, or brought back into use, by local people, and for community use. Three principles are commonly seen to define community-led housing:
The community is integrally involved throughout the process and all key decisions. They don’t necessarily have to initiate the conversation, or build homes themselves.
The community group take a long-term formal role in the ownership, stewardship or management of the homes.
The benefits of the scheme to the local area and/or specified community group are clearly defined and legally protected in perpetuity.
Types of Community-Led Housing
Community-Led Housing is a broad catch all phrase but there are some powerful, tried and tested ways in which people have put these principles into practise.
Housing Co-operatives
provide and collectively manage affordable homes on a democratic membership basis. It's a way to pool collective resources to create a shared opportunity, and affordable, independent housing.
Cohousing
schemes provide self-contained, private homes for communities who manage their scheme together, create shared resources such as a common house, gardens or resources, and share activities to create a strong sense of community.
Community Land Trusts
are locally run not-for-profit organisations which acquire land and hold it in perpetuity for the benefit of the community. CLTs have become a very powerful way for local communities to create affordable housing.
Community self-build
schemes support groups of local people in housing need to build homes for themselves with collective management as well as external support. These schemes can be fantastic in involving people who may not have ever believed they could build their own homes.
Self Build
Building your own home can be an amazing way to get just the home you want, and typically self-builders save money compared to buying a home on the open market. Self-build (or self-finish) might seem inaccessible to you, but it includes people who literally build their home with their own two hands, through to planning and managing the construction process for your own home or in a group.
Ecomotive are experienced self-build managers who can offer direct support to individuals and groups who want to build their own home.
Ecological Housing
Ecomotive’s SNUG Home aims to create affordable, sustainable homes in an easy to build modular system
Housing represents 27% of carbon emissions in the UK. In this time of Climate Breakdown, it has never been more important to work to reduce the environmental impact of our homes. Whether new-build or historical, the majority of our housing stock in the UK is hopelessly out dated and incredibly poor performing for emissions, energy efficiency and ecological benefits.
Many people turn to self-build or community-led housing specifically to improve the environmental performance, and reduce the negative impacts of their homes. Ecomotive can help you design more sustainable homes and communities, whether though Technical Design, through our SNUG Homes, or through facilitating your community to make its own decisions about how it wants to live.
