Working Together for Wales Welsh Assembly Government Housing and community cohesion Jo Glenn Community Cohesion Unit 12 October 2010

Working Together for WalesWelsh Assembly Government

Housing and community cohesion

Jo GlennCommunity Cohesion Unit12 October 2010


Your home is your world


What do we mean by ‘community cohesion’? The UK definition

Community cohesion is what must happen in all communities to enable different groups of

people to get on well together.

A key contributor to community cohesion is integration which is what must happen to

enable new residents and existing residents to adjust to one another

People trusting local institutions to act fairly


The Picture in Wales

•Disturbances in Caia Park, Wrexham 2003

•2007 Citizenship Survey:

– levels of neighbourhood cohesion and feelings of safety are significantly higher in Wales

–Less diverse social networks in terms of income and ethnicity

•2007 Living in Wales Survey:

– 76% agree with statement – This neighbourhood is a place where people from different backgrounds can live together harmoniously

– 58 % agree with statement – It is better for a country if there is a variety of different cultures


What is the focus of the Strategy?The Strategy focuses on policy and service areas that research has shown can have a significant impact on how well a community gets on together:• Housing• Learning• Communication skills

Emphasis on local partnerships identifying and taking action on local issuesSpecific Wales focus on rural areas, the Welsh language and equality/ social inclusionPreventing violent extremism policy part of overall approach to community cohesion


Community Cohesion Funding

• Community Cohesion Grant of £50,000 per year to Cardiff, Swansea, Wrexham & Newport

• Community Cohesion Fund of £3.5 million 2009-11 to all local authorities

Community Cohesion Strategy Strands

Housing

Learning

Communication

Equality

Prevent

Strategy

Where funding went in 2009-10


Community Cohesion Funding

•Involvement of Community Safety Partnerships, Communities First and the Third Sector•Strategic approach encouraged and 18 out of 22 local authorities are producing strategies or action plans•50% of funding for the benefit of Communities First areas•Local authorities encouraged to work together on cross cutting projects•Long term looking to mainstream community cohesion


Housing and how it contributes to poor community cohesion

• Perceptions of unfairness in the allocation of social housing

• Poor maintenance of houses & lack of community facilities

• Lack of affordable housing

• Demand for houses outstripping supply

• Anti-social behaviour, hate crime


How housing can help improve community cohesion

• Social housing staff can monitor community tensions & make other partners aware

• Myth busting & ensuring transparency of housing allocation policy

• Tackling anti-social behaviour & hate crime

• Identifying how existing projects can support cohesion

• Considering availability and access to affordable housing


Current picture• Some evidence that local authority housing teams/ social landlords are being included in local cohesion partnerships

• Use of toolkits & training to tackle hate crime

• Partnership working with police, social Services & Communities First

• Providing diversity training to staff, residents, schools etc

• Tackling a range of social issues that can impact on cohesion


Any questions?

Documents

Working Together for Wales Welsh Assembly Government Housing and community cohesion Jo Glenn Community Cohesion Unit 12 October 2010