Rebel Acres Co-operative to receive £5,000 under the Community Housing Start-up Grant Fund

Rebel Acres Co-operative to receive £5,000 under the Community Housing Start-up Grant Fund

Rebel Acres Intentional Community have become the first community in the Peterborough area to receive a £5,000 Community Housing Start-up Grant Fund, plus any technical support they might need, following a request made to Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority.

Today, (21 June 2021) the Cambridgeshire & Peterborough Combined Authority’s Housing and Communities Committee gave approval to award the start-up grant funding to support the community-led housing projects.

The proposed land co-operative plans to bring together like-minded people in a community-led initiative, sharing time, skills and resources to build a carbon neutral, self-sustaining, open-source community at a location on the outskirts of Peterborough, which is yet to be found.

Dr Nik Johnson, Mayor of Cambridgeshire and Peterborough said:

“Awarding a start-up grant to Rebel Acres Intentional Community is fantastic news.

“I’m delighted that the request was received, and we’ve agreed to support the kick-off of this project with start-up grant funding within weeks of me being elected as Mayor. It’s important to push forward with support and funding for community-led housing projects like this, putting power in the hands of more people and communities to design, own and manage their own housing.

“Community-led housing is a key component of our strategy to provide access to affordable housing across Cambridgeshire and Peterborough and we have a dedicated team helping to facilitate their establishment across the region. This model can work anywhere and we’re here to support communities in setting them up.”

Individuals and community groups interested in community-led housing are urged to get in touch with the Combined Authority to find out how they can be helped.