The scope of the project is the North West region of Europe, including Spain, Italy and Switzerland. In order to finance CLT projects, a thorough insight is needed on the demand and supply side for CLTs. The demand side quantifies the number of projects, the number of housing units in a project and the investment volume needed to finance these projects. On the other hand, the supply side insight is needed on the availability of financial resources willing to invest in these projects.
This is a €3m European Interreg programme, carried out over a three-year period (2017-2020) by the City of Lille (France); the National CLT Network (UK); the CLT of London, Brussels and Ghent (Belgium) and FMDV (France).
What is a CLT project? Community Land Trusts (CLT) can be defined as local not-for-profit organisations which develop and manage affordable housing (explained below) and urban facilities in perpetuity. In practice, the CLT withdraw land from speculative markets, keeping it in a trust. In this way, they help control property prices and preserve access to housing for low-income households. They have thus been internationally recognised as legitimate participatory and anti-speculative models that strengthen social cohesion.
The CLT project realises housing units for households that can rent or can buy those units. A mix of both is also feasible.
What is affordable housing? For target audiences with low-income basis or even with an income that is nearly too low to acquire regular financing on the market have difficulties acquiring good quality housing. Housing units that are designed and constructed to be acquired by these audiences are "affordable houses". Consequently, the CLT scope of audiences is larger than only the lowest incomes of the population.
Why this questionnaire? To quantify the supply side for CLT projects, Hefboom is looking for information about the available financial resources and we would very much like to address specific questions to you that help to acquire insight on the availability of these financial resources. Because this study is on a European wide base, Hefboom is very grateful for the input of FEBEA members and stakeholders.
Involvement of the European Investment Bank (EIB) Hefboom received the assignment from FMDV to participate in this feasibility study. Additionally, the EIB is advising FMDV, SHICC and Hefboom based on their experience in financing large, European wide projects, evaluating the possibility of setting up a dedicated investment platform at the European level. In this respect contacts between Hefboom and EIB are on a regular basis. If the investment platform is considered feasible, there could be financing opportunities for the interested partners, including FEBEA members.
[1] SHICC stands for Sustainable Housing for Inclusive and Cohesive Cities. The SHICC aims to develop, support and disseminate the CLT and OFS model in Europe. The SHICC programme is structured around three main themes: Firstly, recognition of the legit