Award winning Liverpool housing charity appeals for cash

An award winning Liverpool housing charity shortlisted for two more major awards has launched an appeal for financial support from the corporate sector.

Despite being identified as offering one of the UK’s most innovative approaches to affordable housing in the Homes & Communities Agency’s 2010 housing and regeneration awards, Liverpool Habitat for Humanity (LHFH) faces an uphill climb to raise the funds it needs to get started on its next phases of development.

The charity – which is building 32 low-cost homes in the Granby-Toxteth district of the city – is one of seven finalists in the ‘Innovation and New Ventures’ category of the national awards, which will be announced in London on September 23rd.

It has also been shortlisted in the NewHeartlands’ Strictly Regeneration Awards for Sefton, Liverpool and Wirral, which are due to be announced later this month.

Rev Dr Shannon Ledbetter, chair of LHFH, said: “We’ve had incredible success already in regional and national award schemes, which recognise our role in providing a creative solution to affordable housing. However, all the awards in the world cannot replace our need for hard cash to keep the charity moving forwards and helping families in housing need to secure a home of their own.”

The charity’s unique approach is that home owners spend 500 hours physically helping to build their home – called ‘sweat equity’ – in lieu of a £10,000 down-payment. They can then purchase an equity share of the property.

The homes are built using mostly volunteer labour with people coming to Liverpool from all over the world – 10,000 volunteers from 60 different countries to date – to help with the project. Nine homes have already been built and LHFH is now preparing to build the next nine.

“The downside of our approach is that we do not receive any income from home owners’ mortgages until the houses are built and legally completed, but we still have to fund the groundworks, roads, sewers, building costs, supervisory staff, materials and a host of other components upfront,” explained Shannon.

“We rely on a combination of public funding from organisations like NewHeartlands, as well as donations of money and gifts in kind from individuals, corporates and charitable trusts. We also raise some money by providing a unique environment for businesses to send their employees on team-building exercises.”

Shannon continued: “We desperately want to get cracking on our next phase of nine homes and have would-be home owners and other volunteers lined up to help build the properties. But we need a fairly substantial injection of cash to get going.

“We offer a great opportunity for businesses from the Merseyside area and beyond – especially those in the housebuilding, construction and related service industries – to satisfy their Corporate Social Responsibility agenda.”

As well as assisting families onto the housing ladder, LHFH is also an accredited training provider, helping the unemployed learn new skills.

For more information about how you can help Liverpool Habitat for Humanity, visit the website: liverpoolhfh.org.uk