'Why I spent £85k of my own money to help fix Britain's housing crisis'

Dr Jess Steele is a dedicated individual who has been working tirelessly for the past decade to address the housing crisis in Hastings, a town that has seen better days. Once a vibrant place where London bands would perform, Hastings is now grappling with a significant shortage of affordable housing. Dr Jess leads a community group that recently received £1. 5 million from the local council to transform an abandoned publishing house into 12 new flats. However, her journey to tackle the housing issue began in 2014 when she invested £85,000 of her own money into a dilapidated office building known as Rock House. Hastings is surrounded by the stunning High Weald area, but this beauty comes with challenges for town planners who struggle to find space for new housing developments. Many residents are concerned about being priced out of their neighborhoods, particularly in White Rock, a community located just behind the seafront. Dr Jess explains that gentrification is a real concern, as it often leads to lower-income families being replaced by wealthier individuals. At the time, around 35% of households in Hastings were living in relative poverty, a figure that is significantly higher than the average for the southeast of England. When Dr Jess and her community group, now known as Hastings Commons, first rented a small unit in Rock House in 2014, the building was in a state of disrepair and only half-occupied. Out of the blue, they were offered the opportunity to purchase the entire building for £400,000, a price that was heavily discounted. Dr Jess saw this as a chance to help the town and its residents. She believed that by bringing buildings like Rock House into community ownership, they could keep rents affordable for local people. The plan was to charge rents that would be one-third of the median local income and only increase with inflation. However, the community group did not have the funds to buy Rock House outright. Fortunately, Dr Jess knew of a social enterprise investor who had £235,000 available for converting empty buildings into affordable housing. She managed to convince them to invest in Hastings. Reflecting on her early days, Dr Jess admits, 'I was so naive at that stage and not very good at negotiating. ' She was hesitant to offer the letting agent half of the asking price, as she had been advised, so she proposed the £235,000 grant instead, and to her surprise, the agent accepted. With the grant money used to purchase the building, there was no cash left for stamp duty or renovations. To make the project work, Dr Jess decided to remortgage her home and contribute £85,000 of her own money. The renovation work at Rock House began in October 2014, with the help of volunteers and a local builder. Dr Jess recalls, 'We had a report saying it was going to cost £1. 9 million to renovate the whole building. ' Instead of being discouraged, they focused on transforming the first two floors into workspaces for local businesses. A few months later, in 2015, they partially reopened the building and allowed an art school to use one floor for free for a year. This initiative helped attract more visitors and generated interest in the building. The next step was to convert two floors into six affordable flats, which they financed with a loan from the founders of the Big Issue. In March 2016, the first residential tenants moved in, and the group received additional grants to complete the remaining floors, which were turned into various workspaces and communal areas. By 2019, the renovation was fully completed. Dr Jess emphasizes that housing is essential, but people need more than just a place to sleep. They require spaces for socializing, working, and leisure activities. One of the individuals who has benefited from this project is Sue Fellows, a 69-year-old grandmother who moved to Hastings to be closer to her daughter. After retiring from her job as a carer, Sue found it challenging to afford private rent. Now, as a tenant of Hastings Commons for five years, she enjoys a positive community experience and volunteers in a support group for young mothers. The housing crisis extends beyond Hastings and is a pressing issue across the UK. The government has made commitments to address this problem, but experts like Lisa Tye, a property lawyer, believe that community projects like Hastings Commons are part of the solution. While large housebuilding firms can construct many housing units, community groups can make a difference in areas with limited available land. The council has recently allocated funds to Hastings Commons for the installation of 12 affordable homes in the Observer Building, another once-derelict structure. This building was previously home to a printing company that employed hundreds of local residents until it closed in the 1980s. Dr Jess describes the Observer Building as having been in terrible condition, infested with pigeons and suffering from water damage. Hastings Commons took ownership of the building in 2019 and has already made significant progress in restoring it. They financed the purchase using a mortgage on Rock House, which was valued at £1. 6 million. Dr Jess reflects, 'Like idiots, we decided to risk all of our good work to buy the derelict wreck next door! ' She adds, 'But that's our mission, to bring difficult and derelict buildings back into community use. ' The UK faces a serious shortage of affordable homes, raising questions about whether the current system, where councils negotiate with developers to provide cheaper housing, is effective. Are developers being allowed to evade their responsibilities to provide affordable homes? Are councils too under-resourced and lacking the skills to negotiate with large companies? These are critical questions that need to be addressed.