Community Led Housing

What is?:

  • Some social housing in place already in Portobello, more required for all large new build estates in the region of c.35%
  • Lack of rental options, market skewed to students and holiday rentals/airbnb
  • High prices to buy
  • Different models do exist
  • Housing development monoculture, big developers the go to solution
  • Scottish purchasing system flawed
  • Co-housing movement in Edinburgh exists but seems to struggle a bit
  • Boundaries are fluid (discussing what we mean by Portobello) – is Portobello a state of mind 😀?
  • Potential opportunities in Seafield

What if?:

  • we planned from the ground up
  • talked less about numbers and more about quality neighbourhoods
  • we interfered with the price of land – separated it from the price of the property and had different financing arrangements for each (the “Rettie’s” model)
  • we had a dating agency for house swaps
  • we had more housing co-operatives
  • we had more community collective housing (like Bath St)
    • no developer profit allows more to be spent on specification
    • control over the outcome
    • allows for a sustainable focus (Bath St has no gas nor need for central heating)
    • control over priorities allows a focus on quality and longevity
    • working together means the community is built alongside
    • can be used for a rental model through a community organisation
    • but – it’s hard to find land and when you do, competing with known developers
  • the community led the Council
  • we had co-builds for elders and intergenerational, community focused developments
  • we look wider than Portobello for opportunities to create/find proof of concept
  • Council social housing supported collective build
  • We had mixed use collective builds (retail, commercial, living)
  • Action Porty got involved

What Next?:

  • Understand local housing needs now and into the future across the generations within the context of a wider imagining of Portobello in 2050 and beyond
  • Contextualise this need vs the City 2030 plan
  • Work out how we identify opportunities
  • Work into the 20 minute neighbourhood discussions
  • Cohere to meet with Port of Leith Housing
  • Provide/create proof of concept, become an understood alternative for opportunities.
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