Bridport Housing Week launches today (Thursday) to help turn the housing crisis into opportunities and solutions.

A spokesman said: "The cost of housing, whether rented or bought, continues to soar ahead of the capacity of average local incomes to access it. The need for affordable housing in the area is even greater than before the pandemic and is likely to continue to grow. Over 500 households in the Bridport area are registered on Dorset Council's housing register as being in housing need.

"The dire situation leaves a feeling of hopelessness for many, grown-up children have no choice but to stay in an already crowded family home or to move away from Bridport altogether.

"To address this local crisis Bridport Housing Week will be held from 21st to 30th October with the aim of identifying and setting in motion community led solutions that will provide energy efficient, genuinely affordable homes."

The week will be jointly hosted by Bridport Town Council, Raise the Roof, Wessex Community Assets, and Bridport Area Community Housing, or BACH. BACH is a recently established not-for-profit organisation whose aim is 'homes for local people, affordable for ever'.

The programme of events includes an evening talk and discussion on October 21 from 5:30 – 7:30pm at Bridport Town Hall titled 'We Can Do It Ourselves -Tackling Bridport's housing crisis through community-led solutions'.

A keynote speaker from the Knowle West area of Bristol will describe a novel approach that has been successfully applied to re-imagine 'how to do housing'. This will be followed by a round table discussion to explore the scope for adopting similar community led solutions in the Bridport area. To book a free place email [email protected]

On October 30, between 10am and 2pm in Bridport Town Hall, a range of organisations involved in local housing, community led and commercial - including representatives of the Foundry Lea development and Housing Associations - will set up their stalls to be available to answer questions and discuss problems and solutions.

Also, on Saturday the 30 in the WI Hall, North Street at 9:45am, 11am and 12noon there will be three workshops underpinning Bridport Town Council's Energy Efficiency Campaign, each workshop aimed at lowering household energy bills. These can be booked via Bridport Town Council's website: www.bridport-tc.gov.uk

For more information, please visit the website at www.BridportACH.org.uk or Facebook page @BridportACH

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