By Gary Hartin, Programme Manager for Backing Community-Led Housing
Today (18 October), Leeds Community Homes have launched Community-led housing for all: Opportunities and challenges for black and minority ethnic community-led housing – the first co-produced national overview of the challenges faced by black and ethnic communities within the community-led housing sector in England.
The research finds that community-led housing has the potential to tackle racial inequalities within the housing system, but there are barriers to achieving this that need to be addressed.
Building a fair society is reliant on diverse representation in all spaces. But this research also reveals the under-representation of black and minority ethnic people within community-led housing.
As a co-funder of this research, and as a long-term committed funder of the community-led housing sector, we acknowledge the implications and learnings from these findings and take seriously our own responsibility to act and make changes. The research presents an important opportunity for the Nationwide Foundation, and the wider community-led housing sector, to reflect and reaffirm our commitment to fostering a more just society.
Read the full report Read the executive summary Sign up to the next eventWhat does the research find?
We have seen first-hand the positive impact these schemes can have on individuals and communities. As one research participant said on planning and delivering a community-led housing development:
“You create more than a house, and you create a community. You do it for the community and get your own housing need met. It is more than just building units.”
But as the research reveals, black and minority ethnic communities have not only been under-represented in these developments, but the majority of participants involved in the research said that the housing needs of black and minority ethnic communities have been unmet, ignored and under-prioritised in government housing policy and planning practice.
Additionally, the research reveals that awareness of community-led housing remains low among black and minority ethnic communities, and many participants highlighted experience of exclusion from community-led housing opportunities and decision-making. Some community-led housing models have been perceived as ‘white spaces’, implicitly excluding black and minority ethnic members.
How has this research been developed?
Across the charitable sector, different ways to describe funded projects go in and out of fashion. I have often wondered what does ‘co-produced’ mean, what does it involve, who is producing what and with who? This ‘co-produced’ research project, co-funded alongside a group like minded funders, gives me the answer that I have long been searching for.
This research was conceived and championed by two community-led housing practitioners with lived experience – Claude Hendrickson MBE and Henri Baptiste – who were the driving force in wanting to put the challenges faced by black and minority ethnic communities within the community-led housing sector firmly in the spotlight. Having met Claude, and then later Henri, at numerous events across the last decade, I became aware of their desire to discuss and understand why the community-led housing sector, like many parts of the wider housing sector, where not enabling black and ethnic communities to engage and benefit from the sector.
It is their dedication and drive, alongside our wish to ensure that housing is fair, inclusive and accessible to all, that sits at the heart of the Nationwide Foundation’s decision to co-fund this research. I am hopeful that this research will have longevity as a catalyst for positive change across the community-led housing sector in the years to come.
What matters now is not just what we say in response to these findings, but what we do. It’s our actions going forwards that will count.
What next steps will we be taking?
We welcome the research as an important contribution for consideration within the community-led housing sector and across the wider housing sector. We are also grateful to the individuals who have fed into this work – we know that raising these issues and sharing personal experiences can be difficult.
As we begin to plan for the next phase of our strategy, tackling how housing impacts a diverse range of communities has been and will continue to be a key part of this work.
We don’t underestimate the scale of this work and the challenges it may present, be we want to make sure it is done thoughtfully and in partnership with others, including other funders. Moving forward, we will be exploring actions we can take to support and improve representation in housing spaces, including community-led housing. We will be considering the findings of this report in detail as part of that work.
Find out more
If you want to learn more about the research, please sign up to attend the next event on 6 November: a panel discussion and Q&A, where the research team who will be joined by Sonia Bassey MBE (L8 Matters CLT).