Transatlantic Housing Collaboration To Share Their 50 Years of Experience

UK Government consults People’s Self-Help Housing on increasing diversity of supply

CENTRAL COAST — With the need for affordable housing facing communities across the globe, People’s Self-Help Housing (PSHH) was approached by the United Kingdom Government to share their 50+ years of experience in affordable housing.

Commissioned by Prime Minister Boris Johnson to lead a review on how to scale up the delivery of self-build homes, Member of Parliament Richard Bacon consulted with PSHH’s CEO & President, Ken Trigueiro, and Vice President of Home Ownership, Sheryl Flores, on the local and regional challenges of building through this model.

“We are always willing to share best practices and support those looking to build affordable housing,” said Trigueiro. “While the challenges are constantly evolving, our organization has worked for over five decades in this sector. It is clear that we can build even more when we are building together.”

The mutually informative transatlantic discussion contributed to the recently published 114-page report “How Putting Customers in Charge Can Change Everything.” The final document identifies six key recommendations informed in part by the in-depth conversation, which covered the challenges of land prices, by-right development, cost and availability of construction materials, and labor.

Encouraged by the remark “If People’s Self-Help Housing can do it in one of the most expensive footprints in the world, we are certain that it can be replicated in the equally-challenging real estate market of the United Kingdom,” Member of Parliament, Richard Bacon included many of the transferrable lessons in the final report and in gratitude for the PSHH team taking the time to participate, credited their contributions.

To read the full report, visit the UK Government’s Publishing Service. To learn more about People’s Self-Help Housing, visit pshhc.org.

About People’s Self-Help Housing (PSHH)

Founded in 1970, PSHH is the longest-serving nonprofit affordable housing organization on the Central Coast. With a mission of building homes and providing services to strengthen communities and change lives, PSHH serves low-income households, working families, seniors, veterans, farmworkers, those living with disabilities and the formerly homeless. It also provides homeownership opportunities through a self-help, “sweat equity” program that has seen over 1,200 homes successfully completed. PSHH has a presence in San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, Ventura and Monterey counties, manages over 2,000 rental units, and employs over 200 staff members. PSHH acknowledges the indigenous people of the territories that our organization occupies, including the Chumash, Salinan, Yokuts, Kitanemuk, and Tataviam people. To read the full land acknowledgement, visit pshhc.org/IDEA. For more information about the organization, visit pshhc.org, email info@pshhc.org or phone (805) 781-3088.