Join us for an inspirational morning as Community Led Housing adviser Paul Kelly leads us through a vision for how communities can come together to help address the housing crisis.

We'll meet at Granby Winter Gardens on Monday October 9th (10am-midday), a public space created in two former derelict houses by the Granby Four Streets Community Land Trust.

We'll learn how such projects can offer a sustainable, people-centred approach to the housing crisis.

With a current shortfall of over 4 million homes across the UK, there is a chronic need for better quality, safe, warm and affordable housing which meets people’s needs.

Attendees will gain a deeper understanding of the scale and nature of the problem, how it is affecting people locally, and what can be done to help create a new system based on people’s needs.

Paul will share a vision and ideas about how to reduce social isolation and create thriving communities through collective approaches.

There will also be a discussion about how faith groups might get involved in helping design, support and lobby for better outcomes for people of all circumstances, across our region.

The event is free to all Network of Kindness members as part of our Community of Practice series - join the Network for free.

Keep reading below for some insights from Paul.

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"The issues are firstly about affordability and suitability, so houses are out of people’s reach in terms of a lot of people’s incomes," says Paul, who brings 30 years’ experience in community development and housing regeneration.

“But it is a complex issue. In the south, people are struggling to get any type of housing, whereas here it’s more about the quality and type of housing, and the sense of your housing being able to enable you to thrive, as a family, individual, community.

“Rents are too high, the quality of the housing is not as good, not well maintained, lack of choice and mould and damp have also been a problem.

“There’s a real disparity between housing in neighbourhoods across Liverpool City Region, says Paul. But overall there’s not enough supply of social housing for rent and also not enough supply to get people on the housing ladder.

“People are struggling in their neighbourhoods, often they are isolated, they don’t know their neighbours, and they often lack any agency in their housing, so even if they rent from a housing association there’s a sense of their needs not being listened to. affordability is key.

"In 2023 social housing providers could put up rent by 7%, and they all did, not really taking into account the cost of living challenges facing their tenants."

Paul will share examples of the types of models people can look at, such as the Granby Four Streets CLT, and talk about ongoing work local councils to develop community led housing policies.

He will give insight into how some of the projects that have emerged also try to incorporate wider community needs such as supporting small businesses, providing commercial spaces, green spaces, and spaces for people to collect and meet.

“The movement growing nationally is that from a moral point of view housing shouldn’t just be driven by finance, but rather actually what can help people - and what can help communities and neighbourhoods to thrive, says Paul.

“We’ve been doing some work trying to promote some of the possibilities, such as co-housing development, where people are coming together to set up their own projects, to live more collectively in a community owned, co-operative style.

“What people are realising is we need to mix up the housing offer, within a project we need more family housing, larger houses for larger families, supported housing for those who need extra help, places for individuals and everyone in between.

Paul cites the Church of England’s “Coming Home” report commissioned by the Archbishops of Canterbury and York as a radical, high profile work which had a huge impact on the sector nationally, laying down a strategic approach around the land and assets to promote community led housing. About Coming Home | The Church of England

He will talk about some interesting work happening in Gloucestershire area as a result. He says: “The report the Church of England did nationally had a real impact, it was a serious piece of discussion. It was incredibly inspiring to see an organisation want to tackle this and understand that housing is about people, so this leads to a discussion about how the church can build on that locally and provide leadership in communities.”

Paul says: “One of the things we advocate for is policy within organisations. Liverpool City Council has a Community Led Housing Policy where it is now releasing land to community groups to develop their own housing on.

“We’ll look at the examples of the types of models people can look at, such as the Granby Four Streets, and how some of the projects that have emerged also try to incorporate wider community needs such as supporting small businesses, providing commercial spaces, green spaces, and spaces for people to collect and meet.”

“We are working across the Liverpool city region and we’d like to see the other local authorities adopt similar policies, so there is a role for faith groups in lobbying, pushing at the door and helping demonstrate there is a hunger for this.”

"I’m looking forward to the Network of Kindness session. We all want to build better more resilient communities where people can thrive. I hope the session will help faith groups to be aware of what’s happening, and inspire them about what choices they have and what steps they can take to make change happen for themselves, or to help mobilise people in their communities.”

    More about our venue: The Granby Winter Gardens was created by Granby Four Streets CLT who converted who former derelict terraced houses at number 37 and 39 Cairns Street, Liverpool 8.

    More about our speaker: Paul Kelly has been working in the field of community development, housing led regeneration and cultural programming for the past 30 years. For twelve years Paul led the community development function of Liverpool Housing Action Trust, a major housing led regeneration programme, where he first started to support communities to take control of their housing. At this time Paul started a long term interest in commissioning socially engaged artists to operate within a community-based context.

    Since then, Paul has worked on Merseyside’s Housing Market Renewal Programme, was Community Empowerment Manager with Community Gateway Association for five years and recently worked to establish Breaking Ground, the Liverpool City Region Community-led Housing Hub. Paul is an accredited community led housing adviser.

    Paul was a founder member and Company Secretary of Homebaked Community Land Trust between 2012 to 2020 and has been a Fellow of the RSA since 2006. Paul joined the Board of the National Community Land Trust Network in January 2021 and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing. Paul is also an Associate of the Confederation of Cooperative Housing.