Access to housing, affordability and pressure in specific areas (from Airbnb, private renting and second homes) have created distinct pressures on the housing market in Northern Ireland. In some areas, local people are priced out of the market and where the supply of social and private housing is limited, including in rural areas, this has created problems for viability, support for local services and how communities feel they belong in places where they, their family and friends have lived for generations.
This review explores the potential of Community-Led Housing (CLH) to address barriers, make better use of land and property and to place people at the heart of regeneration and local development. The concept is not new to Northern Ireland, but the scale of the sector and supporting legislation, policy and finance, remains underdeveloped, certainly compared with the rest of the UK. The research brief points out that rural areas are a particular focus for attention as many housing associations are put off by the availability and cost of land, planning restrictions and in particular by the scale of schemes possible in dispersed locations. Here, a CLH approach has potential but we also see this as part of a wider strategy to supply affordable homes in other housing markets where there are particular stresses.