Housing, Land and the Planning System
In November 2018, the Catholic Bishops of England and Wales accepted CSAN’s recommendation to encourage Catholic organisations to work together over the long term to address the housing crisis in our country. This is underpinned by CSAN’s major report, ‘Abide in Me‘: Catholic social thought and action on housing challenges in England and Wales, 2018-30 (pdf, 2mb), produced in collaboration with The Centre for Theology and Community (CTC). To accompany ‘Abide in Me’, CSAN published a set of case studies – Actions on the housing crisis in England and Wales (pdf, 0.3mb).
CSAN has since assisted CTC to develop their five-week course for local churches, launched in July 2020. The course is designed to help people discern how to take action locally, in the context of community listening, prayer and reflection. It can be run with a group in a single parish, people from several parishes and/or with multiple denominations locally.
‘Churches can help provide affordable housing’ (pdf, 0.9mb) – Joint Public Issues Team (Baptists, Church of Scotland, Methodists, URC), 2014. A useful practical guide for churches on converting their buildings and land into truly affordable housing. Provides pointers to further contacts.
Influencing local housing development – practical guidance for older people’s groups, though relevant to groups of all ages.
Housing Toolkit – a guide to setting up and managing housing projects for people in destitution, from NACCOM (the No Accommodation Network). This is aimed primarily at setting up shared houses for people who are unrelated, rather than family accommodation.
Picture credit – Gwydion M. Williams (source).