Heartward was founded in 2017 by three households with a shared vision to create a Sussex-based community that will care for the land, prioritise ecologically friendly ways of living and generate warm social ties. Seven years, lots of hard work and a few iterations of community members later, we are finally close to achieving this goal.
Our community values are founded on three core pillars:
The values that underpin these pillars guide our vision for co-creating a thriving, harmonious living environment.
We are dedicated to enhancing our environment through various initiatives that promote sustainability. Our efforts will include:
Collaborating with local organisations to restore natural landscapes and ecosystems.
Launching projects to increase biodiversity and beauty.
Improving the energy-efficiency of all buildings
Sourcing local, seasonal food and promoting sustainable transport options.
Integrating practices like organic growing and permaculture to support sustainable food production
Providing a community car-share initiative to reduce both traffic and pollution
We emphasise a socially enriching environment that fosters creativity, collaboration and community engagement. Our initiatives include:
Developing connections with local schools and actively contributing to our local community
Providing opportunities for learning about, and contributing to, practices that support and enhance biodiversity
Individual homes exist alongside a community building where we gather together to eat, meet, work, and celebrate. It includes a hall for eating together and meeting in, co-working spaces, workshops and art studios for example, that members of the community and people in the wider local community could use.
Encouraging our children’s contribution to community life through various shared activities.
Creating inclusive communal spaces to foster connection
Implementing sociocracy for decision-making - balancing the desire to move forward towards the group’s mission with making sure every voice can be heard in the process, to foster connection instead of division.
A focus on ways of enhancing relationships, through implementing conflict resolution structures, and arranging community activities such as seasonal gatherings
Positively welcoming and encouraging diversity and diverse voices in our community
Financially Sustainable
Heartward aims to create a financially sustainable community that benefits all members. Our financial strategies involve:
Providing affordable housing options for current and future residents.
Establishing equitable financial arrangements aligned with community values.
Practising prudent management of funds and exploring commercial activities that support our sustainability goals.
As cohousing is still relatively new and under-represented in the UK, each community has to forge its own legal and financial model. We are working towards the Mutual Home Ownership (MHO) model - a pioneering new ownership structure that meets our values.
What is an MHOS?
All residents belong to a Mutual Home Ownership Society (MHOS) - this owns the land, houses and common spaces.
Membership of the MHOS gives members democratic control of their housing.
All residents pay 35% of their net incomes to the MHOS to "rent" their properties.
These payments cover the cost of the Society's mortgage and running/maintenance costs. Any surplus funds go 50% to purchase equity shares, and 50% to provide funds to the society.
Once equity shares to the full value of the house have been bought, the payments from each home reduce to 10% of income.
The equity shares purchased will rise in value over time, linked to the rise in local wages rather than rises in property values.