Jonathan Lindh is an architect involved in a community benefits society in Leeds that is acting as a community land trust to build affordable housing. Leeds Community Homes is working with developers with an interest in community builds to try and finance 16 new homes through a share offer.
The thing is realising just how complex housing can be. There are many people interested in co-housing but their interest is thwarted by just how difficult it can be.
What’s your name?
My name is Jonathan Lindh. I’m an architect in Leeds, where I’ve lived there for 27 or 28 years. I’d like to stay.
What kind of work do you do in the CLT?
We want Leeds Community Land Trust to be an enabling organisation so we can enable more sustainable projects in the Leeds region.
We’re essentially a community benefits society but we can act as a community land trust.
At the moment we’re heading towards a community share offer in October that will finance small scale housing providers who have done many empty homes projects. We also want to work with an existing developer on 16 units that Leeds Community Homes will manage and own as a community land trust.
What’s been your proudest moment?
I’m proud we’ve got this far! We’re all busy and it’s hard to find time to devote to something that we really believe in.
I get a buzz out of being involved with a group of talented people and doing something that we believe will make a difference. We’re building a lot of relationships with local authorities and new partners. When we get together I feel that, “Oh yes, this is why we’re doing this,” because we see that together we can make this happen.
What’s been the hardest?
There have been a number of things. For me it’s around devising and representing how we can provide support services to groups. While we know what we can do, getting the time to fully present what we can do in terms of new and established groups, we find they are hitting barriers.
Those things, when I practice as an architect, I intuitively know how to do. But putting it together as a package is a challenge.
The thing is realising just how complex housing can be. There are many people interested in co-housing but their interest is thwarted by just how difficult it can be. To be honest there’s very little happening in that space because there is very little support.
We’ve set ourselves a target in ten years to provide 1000 homes. It’s not a big dramatic number but we feel it’s realistic. We need something tangible to present to people.
The housing market that we have is completely completely failing us.
What keeps you going?
There’s a real belief among everyone at Leeds Community Homes that we have a problem, and it’s a big problem, and it affects us in many ways.
At a personal level because we want better housing ourselves or for our children, equally we know that there are really disadvantaged people who are suffering in private rented accommodation.
The housing market that we have is completely completely failing us. At the same time we’re all people involved in housing for a long time. So you realise this could be better – let’s do something better. That keeps you going. That sense that you’ve got a group to draw on so when it gets difficult for one person there are other people battling on.
Why is community important?
Throughout my life the things that have given me most satisfaction are the things that I’ve done with other people where we’ve succeeded in some collective venture.
You could see a family as a microcosm of that, we have a great family and we’ve grown up through that framework.
Other things I’ve been involved in like a small communal self-build, three houses, three or four years ago. We still live in those houses, we still have the same community, we created a great resource for us to live in. It builds bonds between people that are very powerful. We get to feel empowered at some level.
There’s a sense that together we can do it better.
We’re reaching a point now where we have more ability to organise all sorts of things without the Government than ever before.
How did you vote in the EU referendum and why?
I voted to stay in Europe. My thoughts are that it was a stupid question to ask me because I don’t really know.
The whole thing was very ill-conceived, driven by party political requirements to satisfy internal party politics.
My sense was that we have a complex relationship with Europe and to undo that will be complicated. If we want to create a job for ourselves over the coming years and for all our civil servants, we can choose to Brexit, but I don’t think it will solve anything.
I don’t think it will necessarily a disaster, but it is what it is.
The things that we are dealing with are very locally based, but there are thing that are happening around the world that are similar to this. I was talking to someone the other day about Germany, France, Sweden, where there are other housing crises and they’re approaching them differently.
We know that we have these problems and they need to be dealt with locally. I think we’re reaching a point now where we have more ability to organise all sorts of things without the Government than ever before. Foundations of Bitcoin etc. I don’t think they’re all the solution, but they’re indicative.
Blockchain’s system allows people to hold and organise information and perhaps allow us to do things without having a conventional system of organisation. Who knows what those things will bring as well as the political crises that comes with us saying that we’re not going to be part of Europe anymore.
What would you say to someone who wanted to get involved in a CLT?
Contact the CLT network. There is a lot of information and advice available.
It’s also about looking at how a CLT might work for you, whether it’s housing or another social enterprise like taking over a building or a park. Good luck and enjoy it! The building part of it – not just building buildings, but building communities, building friendships. The process of it can be challenging but it can be enormously rewarding. So, why not?
