Scaling Up Community Led Housing

Supervised by Professor John Flint.

My research explores the factors involved in the development of the community led housing sector in England. Community led housing is, broadly, any housing in which community members have significant and ongoing engagement in the development process, that involves some form of collective ownership or stewardship and is explicitly beneficial to the local community. Key models of community led housing include community land trusts, co-ops, cohousing projects, and varieties of self-build.

After a recent period of growth, it is hoped that the numbers of homes delivered through community led housing will continue to increase over the coming years. A network of regional enabling hubs has been established to facilitate this. This research investigates the ways in which these hubs enable growth at a regional level through a comparative analysis of three case studies of regional enabling hubs supported by research conducted with national stakeholders.

The emphasis of the research is the way that different actors involved in community led housing such as the enabling hubs, national sector bodies, local and national governments, and communities themselves influence the way the sector develops.

It is intended that the research findings will support an understanding of the wider environmental, political, and social factors that enable or constrain community led housing development.

I hold a BA in Social Anthropology and Linguistics and an MA in Linguistics from the University of Manchester. Prior to starting my PhD I completed the MA in Social Research at the University of Sheffield. I also hold an Advanced Certificate in Market and Social Research from the Market Research Society.
Before returning to study at Sheffield I worked as a researcher in a variety of market and social research settings. Most recently, I was an Assistant Evaluation Officer at Shelter, a national housing and homelessness charity.