Research reveals potential for community-led housing to empower black and minority ethnic communities

Dr. Tom Moore, a housing and planning research expert at the University of Liverpool, has contributed to pioneering new research which, for the first time, provides a national overview of the challenges faced by black and minority ethnic communities within the community-led housing sector in England.

Released today, the report reveals the under-representation of black and minority ethnic people in today’s community-led housing sector and finds significant opportunities to better leverage the benefits of community-led housing for these communities.

The report, “Community-led housing for all: Opportunities and challenges for black and minority ethnic community-led housing,” is co-authored by a team of practitioners and academics—Dr. Tom Moore, Claude Hendrickson MBE from Leeds Community Homes, Henri Baptiste, Pathway Housing Solutions and Dr. Yael Arbell from Sheffield Hallam University.

It is based on underlying research initiated by Hendrickson MBE and Baptiste, and undertaken in collaboration with Dr. Moore who has a long track record of conducting research on forms of community-led housing and community land trust.

The research involved 26 interviews and participatory workshops with community-led housing projects and practitioners and used a co-production methodology between community-led housing practitioners with lived experience of the issues being studied and academic researchers.

Dr. Moore said, “This report provides new insight into the potential for community-led housing to tackle racial inequalities in housing. The report identifies several actions required to catalyze community-led housing for black and minority ethnic communities.

“I am very proud to have been involved in collaborative research with leading practitioners in the field. This study’s combination of academic rigor and practical and lived experience has produced findings that will enhance the inclusivity of the community-led housing sector.”

The researchers found that there has been a resurgence of community-led housing in recent years that has empowered local citizens in the planning, development and ownership of affordable housing and community assets. However, black and minority ethnic communities have been under-represented in these developments. This is despite the benefits of community-led housing being well suited to address the racial inequalities within housing and planning policy and practice.

The report evidences a rich history of black and minority ethnic community-led housing, and several longstanding examples of successful schemes dating back to the 1980s and 1990s, many of which navigated significant barriers of institutional and structural discrimination within housing. It highlights the potential for these projects to act as a catalyst for a new wave of community-led housing led by black and minority ethnic communities.

The research reports that the majority of participants said that the housing needs of black and minority ethnic communities are unmet, ignored and under-prioritized in government housing policy and planning practice.

The team also found that community-led housing empowers people to create their own housing solutions. As such, it provides an opportunity to overcome the housing disadvantages faced by black and minority ethnic communities.

While community-led housing leaders have displayed a commitment to enhancing equalities, diversity and inclusion in the sector, awareness of community-led housing remains low among black and minority ethnic communities and more extensive engagement is needed with these communities by the community-led housing sector.

While participants highlighted the importance of representation, many felt that black and minority ethnic communities are under-represented in key roles in the sector and 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.

The report also found that the success of black and minority ethnic community-led projects is threatened by inconsistent funding frameworks and policy processes. Access to funding was a key barrier for projects, and there is a perception that black and minority ethnic communities have been inadvertently marginalized from allocations made, for example through funding allocations made from public and private sector sources.

The authors of the report call on funders to record data on how black and minority ethnic communities are represented in community housing fund financing. It also calls for local and combined authorities to actively promote opportunities for black and minority ethnic community-led projects to acquire land and develop inclusive planning and engagement processes.

Henri Baptiste, from Pathway Housing Solutions, said, “My organization has adopted community-led housing as a place-based solution to the problems of housing disadvantage and homelessness; however as a small, black-led grass-roots organization advocating for the needs of underserved communities, we are doubly discriminated against, and struggling to navigate through a ‘one size fits all’ policy environment.

“This research shines a light on the issue of racial inequality not just in community-led housing but across the whole eco-system including planning, finance, commissioning and policy. It serves as a call-out to the sector, offering practical solutions and a catalyst for solution focused dialogue.”

Claude Hendrickson, community-led housing advisor from Leeds Community Homes, said, “It’s been 30 years of missed opportunities, but this research highlights many barriers to black and minority ethnic communities within the Community Led Housing & Community Land Trust sector.

“It lays the foundation to change the barriers into opportunities in the future and help erode some of the disparities that BME communities are still facing. The community-led housing sector must have black and minority ethnic input at all levels to be truly inclusive.”

Jimm Reed, chief executive of Leeds Community Homes said, “We believe that community-led housing should be an opportunity for all communities. This research is vital in highlighting barriers which have prevented it being a viable option for many black and minority communities; and it will help us, as a sector, engage with these challenges in order to support and enable many more projects to emerge from diverse and minority-led groups.”

Gary Hartin, program manager for backing community-led housing at the Nationwide Foundation, said, “This research makes a significant contribution to the community-led housing sector. As a funder, we will be looking at how our work can drive more inclusive practice in the community-led housing space, as well as our practices.

“This is vital for empowering black and minority ethnic groups to tackle housing disadvantage, and indeed for increasing the number of decent affordable homes available, which we know community-led housing plays an important role in.”