Ryan Brightwell, Director of Research at the Dutch NGO BankTrack, reports from the front line.
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The Trust was established with the primary aim of taking a community-led approach to creating more affordable homes in the town. The fund will enable the Trust to purchase a property and refurbish it into 6 affordable flats, housing ten people.
The town faces a housing crisis, in large part because more than a quarter of the homes in St Ives are holiday homes. The average house price in St Ives is £369,000, compared to the UK average of £226,000, while the average income in the town stands at £23,937, about £11,000 less than the average across the UK.
Online funding portal and campaign group Ethex said of the fundraise, “This kind of investment funding is vital for Community Land Trusts which are created with the aim of bringing more buildings into community ownership in a bid to tackle some of the big social problems facing communities today.”
The cost of housing has increased dramatically over the past decades.
In 2005 the average house price stood at just over £150,000 but by March 2019 that figure had increased by approximately £76,000. The crisis affects not only buyers but also renters, arguably more so. For those with mortgages, housing accounts for about 12% of average household income, whereas for renters it is 36%.
The closing date to invest in the St Ives Community Land Trust is 17th August 2019. Head to the or Ethex website for more information.
