Community-led housing (baugruppen: Germany, projets d'habitat participatif: France, habitat groupé: Belgium. social production of habitat: Latin America) is a method of forming future residents into a 'building group' who contribute to the design and development of new housing to meet their longer term needs, rather than leaving all design decisions to a developer looking to maximise the immediate financial return.
Working together in advance of construction helps to create a sense of community as members collaborate to identify their own priorities when designing their homes and shared spaces.
Groups of this sort were developing housing in Berlin in the early 2000s as the city was rebuilt following German reunification and emerging from a long tradition of self-initiated, community-oriented living and the shared responsibility of building in Germany.[2][3]
Identified benefits of community-led housing include:
In 2016 key principles for community-led housing were developed collaboratively with several organisations representing community-led housing as part of an alliance building activity coordinated by Building and Social Housing Foundation (BSHF).[12][13]
The key principles are:[14]
Individual schemes are designed to fit the needs of the communities involved and achieve specific outcomes and wider benefits.[15]
Terms used for this concept around the world include:
Common legal structures used to provide community-led housing in the UK include:[15][16]