Bishop Guli Francis-Dehqani writes in the Church Times this week about her recent visit to Birmingham to visit some housing projects in progress and see partnerships between the council, Church and other local communities pushing ahead essential housing work in the city.

A powerful example of community partnership is taking shape in Chelmsford as CHESS Homeless, supported by Allia Future Homes, launches an innovative housing community to help people rebuild their lives. Churches are ideal partners for projects like these.

Forum for Church Housing member The Church Commissioners have invested £4 million in a community housing fund designed to build 1000 homes, 90 per cent of which will be affordable. This initiative, part of the Church of England’s Social Impact Investment Programme, is in partnership with London CIV, with an initial focus on delivering over 350 energy-efficient, affordable family homes in areas with high housing costs.

The Bishop for Housing, The Rt Revd Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani reflects on the Church of England’s call to address the housing crisis through creativity and collective responsibility in her blog for the National Housing Federation Website: Imagination and Sacrifice: Why Our Housing Vision Needs Both.

In November 2024, Bishop Guli visited Birmingham to meet local communities, civic leaders, and faith groups. During the visit, she announced two significant developments in the Church’s efforts to tackle housing needs: The launch of The Church Development Agency, and a new team within the Church’s Faith in Public Life Team.

Since the landmark Coming Home report of the Archbishops Commission on Housing, Church and Community was published in 2021, different parts of the Church of England have been stepping up to meet housing need in a way that builds community and demonstrates the good news of God’s kingdom.

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The Church Commissioners responded to the challenge of the Coming Home report to deliver more affordable housing by creating the role of affordable housing asset manager. This person has been building partnerships with rural housing associations, community land trusts and community housing enablers to identify and take forward rural exception sites (RESs) on their land.

Foremost among the recommendations of the Coming Home report was to create a long-term, cross party national housing strategy. Early in 2023, Bishop Guli convened a small steering group in the House of Lords to explore how a national housing strategy might be developed. The group included a Conservative, Labour, Lib Dem and Crossbench peer.

Accessibility can incorporate both beauty and value for money, but the industry does not always do a great job by default…

To be blunt, sometimes meeting the needs of everyone will cost more, or make less money. We may need to make sacrifices, but it is an investment that sees results…

The vision set out in the ‘Coming Home’ report is so vividly and clearly inclusive, and the values speak so powerfully…

Many rural areas have substantial unmet need for affordable housing. The Church of England as a whole owns a lot of land in and around rural settlements. Is this an opportunity waiting to happen? This snippet of a full community post covers some of the opportunities detailed in the full post.

If you are considering getting involved in meeting housing in your local area, this is for you. This snippet of a full community post covers some of the basics of what will make your involvement successful.