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Why is Shortlife Housing Back on the Agenda ?

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  Why is Shortlife Housing Back on the Agenda ? Across England there are 225,000 homes which have been empty long term, a number that has been growing for the past five years, according to  MHCLG data In London, which has both the highest level of housing demand in the country and also the most expensive homes, you would be sure there would be no scope for homes to be left empty, but in fact there are over 30,000 homes vacant long term.  Long term in this case means that the property has been unoccupied and largely unfurnished for at least six months, though of course many have been much longer. With 60,000 families in temporary accommodation and many more in insecure situations or sofa surfing, every one of those homes could be life changing for a family or a group of individuals if they could be brought safely back into use. For many of those the solution is for the owner to get on and finish building work, but where owners cannot or will not do this, or where there is some other r

Spreading the message about co-operative and community led housing

 Hello World ! This will be a location for us to publish some articles on housing in London, co-operatively controlled housing and any form of resident or community led housing. We may also share ideas on anything else that takes our fancy. We are London Federation of Housing Co-ops. We are an association of different housing co-operatives of all shapes and forms - including any that organise themselves in a democratic way. Togeher we share ideas and expertise and bring in trainers for anything we don't know. We meet regularly throughout the year and also respond to government consultations to provide a voice for the movement. The aim is both to make existing organisations successful and to encourage the formation of new groups - whether by us leading or celebrating others who do it. The first article will be on shortlife housing and why it is better all round than using Guardian companies. this will be one of the topics for our next forum, which will be online on Saturday 28th Nov