About us
Who are we?
Communities Against Delinquent Ownership is a network of people who are fed up seeing so many wonderful buildings stuck, empty and under-used. We’re here to back local communities to save buildings from disuse and disrepair.
There are many brilliant organisations and campaigns working on this topic - Platform Places, the We’re Right Here Campaign, Save Britain’s Heritage, Don’t Waste Buildings, and many others. We’re working closely with many of these organisations and we’re excited to announce deeper partnerships soon.
Specifically, CADO’s contribution is to:
Crowdsource a map of neglected buildings all over the country
Connect together local campaigns to save buildings
Remove any remaining barriers that get in the way
Since all of our work is about crowdsourcing, connecting, and collective voice, we’re only as strong as the people who take part. So if you care about this issue too, join our mailing list to stay in touch.
CADO is brought to you by Kinship Works and Jericho Road Solutions. We’re grateful to the John Armitage Charitable Trust for supporting this stage of the work.
What is delinquent ownership?
Delinquent ownership is what happens when someone owns a building and lets it sit empty, or fall into disrepair. We don’t use the word delinquent to describe the owner, but the behaviour.
Sometimes an owner will be absent. Sometimes they’re waiting for the building’s value to rise. Sometimes they can’t afford to act. Meanwhile the roof leaks, a much-needed space is wasted, and a deteriorating eyesore feeds a sense of local decline. So regardless of the reason, the local community pays the price.
Communities have more power in these situations than they realise. But still no-one knows the full scale of the problem - or the opportunity. The work of rescuing buildings is also still too lonely and difficult. This is why we think it’s time for a big new collective effort.
Where does CADO come from?
CADO is not a new idea. The campaign was first launched in 2014 by Jericho Road with the support of Locality, when it was linked to the pioneering work of Hastings Commons. In the years since, the problem has become more urgent but communities also have new powers - and amazing success stories to learn from.
We also think the political weather has shifted - people can see now the harm that delinquent ownership causes, holding back local economies and high streets and feeding a sense that places have been left behind.
So we felt the time was ripe to launch a new and updated version of Communities Against Delinquent Ownership - we’re back, and stronger than ever!
