Community Led Housing at The Highlife Centre
The Highlife Centre and West Midland Urban Community Housing are working together to explore innovative ways in which Community-Led Housing (CLH) can help reduce the housing deficit across localities. Coventry is currently experiencing a significant and widening shortfall in housing supply, with recent strategic assessments identifying a minimum requirement for 1,964 new homes per year based on updated demographic trends and affordability pressures highlighted in the Coventry & Warwickshire Housing & Economic Development Needs Assessment (HEDNA). Coventry City Council’s strategic housing reports further emphasise that affordable housing need remains acute, driven by population growth, rising costs, and a shortage of suitable, well-located development sites.
These challenges present a powerful opportunity for community-led housing solutions that can bring empty or underused land and buildings back into use, deliver genuinely affordable homes, and enable residents to shape sustainable, inclusive neighbourhoods. To support this ambition, we are hosting an event on 14 October 2026 designed to:
· Raise awareness of community-led housing.
· Demonstrate how organisations can get involved.
· Share learning from groups already delivering CLH.
· Outline the support available to start and develop a housing project.
· Explore collaborative delivery models.
· Strengthen community influence over Coventry’s future housing strategy.
We are particularly keen to engage:
· New organisations or community groups interested in CLH.
· Groups exploring CLH but without a site or defined ambition.
· Groups with a potential site and a clear vision.
· Groups that have already acquired land and are progressing development.
If your organisation is interested in attending or becoming part of Coventry’s CLH movement, please complete our MS Form to register your interest and secure your place. Your involvement will help shape a more inclusive, community-driven approach to addressing Coventry’s housing deficit
Please forward this to any contacts or organisations you may know that may be interested.