Developing opportunities to solve the housing crisis is the topic of Stroud District Green Party’s next Cloud Café online debate, on Wednesday May 10, from 7.30pm to 9pm.
The event, which is free and open to anyone, will hear from speakers from Britain and the USA about their experiences of alternative forms of housing and their ideas for new ways of living together in a sustaining and sustainable way.
The debate will address a number of questions:
- Who should be leading housing planning? At present it is led by developers and the market.
- How do we fix the problem of housing distribution and equity? There are older people living in large houses, families crammed into box-like houses and young people sofa-surfing or on the streets.
- How can we reconcile our housing needs with our housing stock, and how do we design for better living?
- What would a genuine multi-age, multiple ability, sharing housing community look like?
- Is zero carbon modular self-build an idea whose time has come?
The event is part of a series of debates around the theme A Bright Green Future.
The speakers
Ian Crawley is an accredited Community Led Housing Advisor and secretary of the Nailsworth Community Land Trust, which was formed to build affordable housing to rent in Nailsworth. So far it has built 10 homes. Ian was previously Trustee of the National Community Land Trust Network and has also worked as in local government housing services.
Dave Darby and Dil Green will talk about housing commons. They are both members of the Lowimpact.org co-op. Dil is the inventor of the housing commons concept, and is co-founder of Mutual Credit Services, who help set up housing and other commons projects in the UK and overseas. Dave and his wife live in Stroud, and are planning to put a house into the commons.
Ivar Diekerhof is a specialist in urban renewal, property development, co-housing, building innovation and affordable housing. He believes cities should be revitalised in social, physical and economical terms. He will speak in particular about WikiHouse modular building.
Laurie Frank – who is on the National Cohousing Board – and Bert Zipperer will represent The Cohousing Association of the United States. They will speak about co-housing communities. These are collaborative neighbourhoods that combine private homes with shared indoor and outdoor spaces, designed to enable connection, environmentalism, security and community support.
To attend, or to receive a link to watch the recording afterwards, go to https://actionnetwork.org/events/cloud-cafe-a-bright-green-future-opportunities-to-solve-the-housing-crisis