The London Assembly, whose role is to hold the mayor to account, said Khan should allocate more funds to these schemes and pressure central government to hand over more cash. Assembly members also argued in a report released on Thursday (3 April) that Khan and the Greater London Authority (GLA) should work to remove barriers and ensure more black, global majority and working-class Londoners are involved in community-led trusts (CLTs) and housing co-operatives. CLTs are initiatives set up by local groups to build housing and other types of buildings that they then manage. They are usually non-profits and aim to keep rents and costs low so local people can remain living in their own neighbourhood, despite rising house prices and rents elsewhere.Advertisement The London Assembly estimates there are just 15 CLTs in the capital, representing a tiny part of the capital’s housing mix. But they are growing in number, up from just one in 2010. Some 548 operate across the country, according to the Community Land Trust Network. The main problem for CLTs is money – both to build homes and to work their way through the paperwork required to set up as providers. It is difficult to get bank loans as they don’t have a development track record to point to. This tends to make them reliant on government grant funding. Ministers gave Khan and the GLA £38 million in 2018 for a Community Housing Fund. This would enable 500 homes to be built by CLTs and housing co-operatives. It initially had a deadline of 2023 to hand out the money, although this timeframe was later removed. Seven years on, £24 million of the £30 million dedicated to capital funding has been allocated, while all of the revenue funding has been handed out. Despite 80 per cent of capital funds being disbursed, just 117 homes funded by this scheme have been started over the past four years, with 93 completed – less than a fifth of the target.Advertisement ‘This shows that, even with this dedicated source of funding, it is hard for the community-led sector to develop housing,’ the London Assembly said. ‘The removal of the deadline for delivery poses a real risk of drift and weakens the incentive for the GLA to progress completion of these 500 homes.’ CLTs and housing co-operatives can also apply for a separate, much larger source of government funding: the £4 billion Affordable Homes Programme. But getting hold of this money is harder – projects need to already have planning permission, for which they need cash. Furthermore, the Affordable Homes Programme is only for capital funding, not revenue. The London Assembly said that the GLA should continue to lobby the government for more funding for the Community Housing Fund, and to allow Affordable Homes Programme money to be allocated to revenue as well as capital spending. It also said that the GLA should give more money to the Community Led-Housing London, an organisation that helps CLTs and housing co-operatives progress their projects. Sanya Polescuk, an architect who founded NW3 CLT, a CLT in Hampstead, said the hub had been of huge importance to her project. NW3 CLT has permission to build 14 flats, eight of which are designated ‘affordable’ and will remain as such forever. Polescuk said that thanks to funding and mentorship from the hub and GLA, NW3 CLT and project architect Mole should be able to start building this year. ‘It is only with the increased funding, support and advice through Community-Led Housing London that we and community groups like ours stand a chance in the highly competitive and market-driven housing environment we live in London,’ she told the AJ. Report authors also recommended that the GLA require CLTs and co-operatives that receive its funding to record the ethnicity and income of people who live in the homes they build. They claimed that this would shed light on the perception that people from ethnic minorities were missing out on these kinds of homes, and help the GLA work out how to tackle the problem if it exists. Other recommendations included releasing authority land to CLTs and co-operatives for building, and helping these groups buy new homes in GLA housing schemes. Comment: Sem Moema, chair of the GLA Housing Committee London is in an acute housing crisis, and fixing it will require many different approaches. Expanding London’s housing co-operative and community land trust sector can be one part of the solution. By being rooted in the needs of local people and communities, these projects deliver housing while building community power and encouraging a sense of belonging. They demonstrate how housing not built around profit can succeed – all while strengthening a sense of local place. More can be done to facilitate partnership working. Our report shows how many co-operatives and community land trusts are filled with hard-working people, and there is a clear role for local authorities in facilitating connections and encouraging projects to move quickly and get built. A holistic view is also important, particularly in how the sector can help combat health and other inequalities. However, the sector has its problems. It is currently too small, partly because there are so many barriers to projects succeeding. It can move very slowly, with developing a single project often taking up to 15 years. ‘Bureaucracy should  be removed’ Much more needs to be done to allow projects to get off the ground quickly, and our report makes suggestions as to how this can be encouraged. Bureaucracy should  be removed, and creativity, partnerships and joined-up thinking encouraged between local government, co-operative housing and community land trusts, and other stakeholders to ensure projects progress. Availability of land to co-operatives and community land trusts is also an issue. Both the GLA and local authorities have been reluctant to release land, making it hard for community groups to get projects off the ground. Similarly, while a number of the co-operatives and community land trusts who we heard from through the course of this inquiry have successfully accessed upfront grant funding for feasibility studies, far too many struggle and fall at this first hurdle. More land needs to be released to community groups so more projects can be developed, and the sector expanded.