Hastings Housing initiative CEO calls on government to help solve housing crisis
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The initiatives chosen for the Awards offer proven solutions for housing affordability, ending homelessness, decarbonising housing and increasing climate resilience, and improving gender equity and social inclusion. All winners show real potential for transfer and scaling.
Hastings Commons CEO, Dr Jess Steele, is pleased by this global recognition, she says “Hastings is the only place in the UK to be recognised by the World Habitat Awards. Through Hastings Commons and the wider Hastings Housing Alliance we are leading the way to demonstrate community-led solutions to the housing crisis that also tackle other problems such as dereliction, decarbonisation, social cohesion and economic development”.
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Hide Ad“Home is not just about housing units, it’s about building and nurturing community. The spaces people need are not just bedroom/bathroom/kitchen but spaces to be together. What we do at Hastings Commons is much more than housing: this is community led regeneration of a whole neighbourhood that had been seriously neglected, showing that there is a real alternative to top down models of regeneration and development. Commoning is about looking out for each other and looking after the place.”

Jess, a social entrepreneur and an expert in community-led development went on to say:
“The Government has an ambitious target to build 1.5 million homes. That cannot be achieved by the volume housebuilders and large housing associations alone. There are very few large development sites in Hastings and 40% of the stock was built before 1919 (twice the England average). We need a more balanced approach to housing development, with serious support for community-led solutions that transform existing buildings and underused sites into new affordable homes, alongside workspace, social spaces and community-building programmes”.
Jess points out that the proposed Community Right to Buy - giving communities ‘first dibs’ on important local assets - in the recent Devolution White Paper will only be effective if backed by funding and support to make it possible.
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Hide Ad“What Hastings Commons has achieved over the past decade has been against the odds and in spite of the system. Community ownership and regeneration shouldn't be this hard...! There are strong community organisations working in neighbourhoods around the country to create better futures but it’s a struggle. I hope this Award will shine a light on their work as well as ours, and help convince government, philanthropists, pension funds and other long-term financers of its worth.”
Nine diverse housing initiatives from around the globe have been honoured with World Habitat Awards, with the UK-based Hastings Commons emerging as a pioneering example of how community-driven solutions can address the affordable housing crisis.
The winning projects offer proven solutions for housing affordability, ending homelessness, decarbonising housing and increasing climate resilience, and improving gender equity and social inclusion, and all show real potential for transfer and scaling.
Entries for the Awards were received from 55 countries, with the winners selected after an in-depth selection process by international housing experts lasting nearly nine months. The two gold winners each receive a prize of £10,000 (GBP), and access to innovation funding and expertise from World Habitat.
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Hide AdOver the past decade, the community-led organisations behind Hastings Commons have converted 8,500 square metres of derelict space. Their efforts have positively impacted 6,400 people, building not just homes but a more connected, empowered community.
As housing challenges grow across the UK, Hastings Commons has emerged as a pioneering example of how community-driven solutions can address the affordable housing crisis.
Hastings is one of the most deprived in England with a housing shortage so severe the council was told last year it might go bankrupt. Jess Steele, CEO Hastings Commons and Commoner at Large, leads the community group which was recently awarded £1.5m by the council to create 12 flats in an abandoned publishing house.