Innovative project seeks legal support to launch “Housing for Good” charitable housing framework

What do they need help with?

This work seeks to establish a new charity, Housing for Good, as a spin-out from the Royal College of Art’s Ecological Citizen(s) programme.

The proposed framework could be adapted by charities to suit local needs, including:

• Affordable housing for those who need it
• Residencies for artists, gardeners, community builders, researchers, and organisers of play or sport
• “Ecological citizen” houses, where organisers live affordably and contribute to local rewilding and nature-connection opportunities
• Settlement houses (inspired by Toynbee Hall and the YMCA model) with small flats, shared spaces and a resident co-ordinator for volunteers or people doing apprenticeships.
• Housing linked to public workshops or exhibitions
• Properties where rental income supports charitable projects, with residents contributing in kind
• Placing land in community ownership.

The potential impact is significant. In 2024, UK charities received £4.5 billion in legacy income; directing just 1% of this towards housing could fund around 225 homes at £200,000 each (excluding fees and refurbishment). With legacy income projected to reach £10.5 billion by 2050, 1% could support the creation of approximately 525 homes annually. Small proportions of existing generosity could secure long-term housing in communities across the UK.

A proposed Gift Builder tool would allow donors to tailor their giving by selecting:

• Type of gift (legacy, asset sale, or cash donation)
• Purpose (support for specific charities or causes)
• Use (housing people in need, supporting staff or volunteers, enabling special projects, or generating income)
• Location (local or national)
• Recognition (public or private)
• Flexibility (trust-based, consultative or fixed)

For larger gifts, donors could also specify the duration of use, beneficiary groups, conditions, stewardship or exit terms, values, community connection, and personal narrative.

The model would include important safeguards. Residents’ rights would be protected through clear licence or tenancy agreements with transparent affordability. Staff and volunteer housing would be supported by proportionate agreements. Where needed, restricted funds would be used, and a “fail-to-safe” design would ensure that assets could be transferred or reinvested if the original purpose is no longer viable. A privacy-first approach to recognition, a concise Property Register, security checks, and a discreet quality mark would help uphold public trust.

Housing for Good is consciously designed as a modern echo of older traditions. Society already shares guardianship of historic buildings and embraces open standards that spread good ideas. This initiative aims to make philanthropy more collective — enabling many modest gifts to combine and secure lasting community assets — using clear, open legal tools that any group can adopt. It draws inspiration from National Trust-style stewardship and the principles of Creative Commons licensing.

The proposal emphasises that HfG should remain lightweight and open: not a monolithic new institution, but a platform of legal tools that communities and charities can adopt, adapt, or extend. Draft documents will be published publicly with an opt‑in contributor attribution model.

Legal Hackathon, 27 October 2025

The team behind Housing for Good is inviting legal professionals and collaborators to a special workshop designed to help shape a proposal with the potential to benefit communities across the UK for generations to come.

(If unavailable to attend the hackathon, colleagues are invited to still contribute to the initiative either individually or as a team)

The concept builds on a long-standing British tradition of providing housing to enable individuals to serve their communities — from parish vicarages and coastguard cottages to almshouses, Toynbee Hall, Quaker villages, and today’s key-worker accommodation. Alongside this, the UK has a rich culture of giving for public benefit, whether through institutions like the National Trust or faith-based traditions such as Zakat and tithing. Housing for Good aims to be a modern expression of this enduring connection between housing and public purpose.

The proposal seeks to channel gifted assets — including legacies in wills, equity released from downsizing, and other donations — into homes secured for public good. These homes would be made available at highly affordable rents to individuals whose work benefits their community. Rather than establishing a large institution, the project envisions a lightweight platform supported by smart digital tools. These tools would guide donors through a few key questions and generate appropriate legal paperwork — including wills, covenants, and agreements — allowing gifts to be converted quickly into usable housing. For straightforward cases, standardised, free-to-use documents would be available, with prompts to seek legal advice where complexities arise. A small governance body would oversee the maintenance of these templates and ensure ongoing trust and compliance.

The legal hackathon will focus on two primary aims:

• Identifying and developing key legal principles and pathways for both donors and charities — including issues relating to wills, covenants, charitable use and protection.
• Exploring how individual agreements interconnect — ensuring each legal instrument can function independently while also integrating within a wider legal framework.

The workshop will be preceded by a short 10–12 minute digital audio briefing to frame the session. On the day, cross-functional teams will use a systems design approach to map documents, identify potential pitfalls, and uncover opportunities. The end goal is to create legal templates that are clear, adaptable, and stripped of unnecessary legal jargon — suitable for use by individuals, organisations, and communities.

Following the event, draft Open Documents will be published for public review, allowing for a period of reflection and refinement before they are finalised. This deliberate pause is intended to allow deeper engagement, given the intensity of the process. Final documents will then be tested and refined based on feedback.

As part of the Ecological Citizen(s) research programme, the process itself will be documented using an opt-in consent model — enabling others to learn from the experience. While individual participants will remain unnamed, the collective contribution of the group will be acknowledged.

All materials developed during the workshop will be gifted to Housing for Good and released under a Creative Commons licence. Although the spirit of the project is altruistic and collaborative, credit and attribution will be offered through an opt-in alphabetical list of contributors.

Workshop on October 27th in central London.

Rolling opportunities to engage with the initiative beyond this date. Long-term offers of support welcome.

Timeline

URGENT Register interest by 10th October 2025

About the organisation

The Royal College of Art (RCA) hosts the Ecological Citizen(s) Network+, a transdisciplinary research initiative combining design, digital tools, citizen science and sustainability to catalyse ecological action and citizenship.

The RCA team works in partnership with University of York’s Stockholm Environment Institute and Wrexham University, backed by national research funding.

Ecological Citizen(s) projects include work on social housing retrofit, exploring data integration to align building retrofit with occupant needs, and pilot programmes that support ecological justice, participatory design, land use, and community innovation.

The Housing for Good venture is a spin‑out collaboration between Geographer Dan Raven-Ellison and the RCA’s Dr Rob Phillips, aligning with the network’s mission: harnessing design, law, philanthropy and community agency to secure ecological and social benefit in place.

https://www.rca.ac.uk/research-innovation/projects/ecological-citizens-network