Monday 23 March 2009

EARLY CAREER FEATURE

No One Left Out? The Antinomies of Community

Introduction

The recently published fifteen point action plan – No One Left Out: Communities Ending Rough Sleeping (CLG 2008) – outlines the government’s new strategy to eradicate the phenomenon by the symbolic date of the London Olympics of 2012. This renewed policy focus aims to build on the successful post-1998 prevention and reduction programmes (Pawson, 2007) as exemplified by figures from the Department for Communities and Local Government that suggest 483 people sleep rough across England on any given night, a sustained reduction of two thirds from 1,850 in 1997.

Underpinning this new strategic vision is a funding stream totalling £200 million together with the declaration that ‘‘charities, businesses and government will work more closely in new and innovative ways to help rough sleepers off the street and into employment’’ (CLG 2008:18). Here, then, we see how the idea of ‘community’ (refracted through a mixed economy of welfare) has been given a determining role in the drive to prevent and alleviate visible rough sleeping. However, notwithstanding some positive developments, I would argue that the eulogisation of ‘community’ proffered by No One Left Out: Communities Ending Rough Sleeping is profoundly narrow and distorting. In talking about empowering people and communities there is a serious neglect of the catastrophic consequences of the current economic crisis and, in a similar light, the chronic shortage of decent, affordable, secure and accountable council housing.

A close reading of No One Left Out: Communities Ending Rough Sleeping requires us to draw attention to a new politics of community and responsible citizenship. Here again the emphasis on community is indicative of the New Labour government’s efforts to facilitate community cohesion and foster – and in some instances coerce – individuals and their communities to become active in their own governance. It is also important to acknowledge that the responsibility for planning and purchasing homelessness services has increasingly been devolved from national to local government. Not only does this necessitate a recognition that homelessness organisations now compete for increased (but short-term funds) but that this development has also transformed the culture of the homelessness sector and its ability to be a genuinely independent and critical voice within civil society. In this regard, homelessness charities, traditionally viewed as a sphere outside of the state, now find themselves engaged in various types of ‘compacts’ with both the state and the business community. This has had the effect of redrawing the boundaries between the charitable voluntary sector and the state.

While opening up to scrutiny the valorisation of community and faith based groups, we need also to be alert to the ‘punitive community’ (Moore, 2008). One reading of this is reflected in the more authoritarian elements of New Labour as illustrated by its preoccupation with worklessness and its aggressive approach to curbing anti-social behaviour. Under these circumstances it is the specific responsibility of ‘active citizens’ to police themselves, monitor their neighbours and reinforce responsibility. In line with the demands and expectations of leading community actors, homelessness service providers are enjoined to place a stronger emphasis on group conduct and personal change. Yet at the same time ‘recalcitrant’ support services are subject to growing moral regulation and administrative oversight. In this way homelessness services that consciously and courageously question the contemporary governance of homelessness are deemed to be intractable as much as conservative.

To be clear, the argument posited here is not that charitable voluntary activity or burgeoning third sector involvement - often guided by a strong moral framework that advocates social justice – does not and cannot play a significant role in recognising and responding to the particular needs of rough sleepers within their communities. This is clearly not the case. Certainly, it is well known and routinely remarked upon that amateur community voluntarism has emerged in order to tackle shortages in welfare provision that (local and central) government is unable, or unwilling, to provide.

Background
In the brief discussion that follows I draw on a doctoral research project underpinned by extensive ethnographic fieldwork with rough sleepers and the precariously housed in a small market town in Dorset. It looks in particular at some of the ways in which the twin movements of conditionality and responsibilisation have gained a narrative force and institutional purchase in relation to the conduct of homeless people.

The Punitive Community
Three issues have particular salience for the discussion here. The first is to suggest that the concept of ‘community’ has particular implications for how rough sleeping is both conceived and potentially resolved. In empirical terms, my study highlights how homelessness as an issue can be discursively transformed – from latency (something other than homelessness) to visibility (vilified and problematised) - within the context of a small rural environment (Cloke et al., 2003). Again this example highlights how efforts are made to ‘export’ homeless people on the spurious grounds that they have no ‘local connection’ or simply because there is no emergency accommodation in the immediate area. In the second case my stock of ethnographic fieldwork material would seem to suggest that the deployment of anti-social behaviour orders, specifically the use and threat of Dispersal Orders against rough sleepers has been made possible by the grammar of ‘community safety.’ The third and final issue here relates to some of the ways in which an engaged (moral) community can regulate or exercise control over services to homeless and destitute people. This point is reinforced by my own direct observations at a small, voluntary organisation that despite appearing to be a modal carrier for the type of ‘community involvement’ so lauded by New Labour (Law & Mooney, 2006) has been compelled to alter its (1) physical structure; (2) admission policy; (3) restrict the number of service users able to access the project; and (4) institute a payment system for a hot meal service in order to cultivate ‘personal responsibility’.

Conclusion
In this modest review, I have set to throw an arc of light of some of the tensions inherent in the way in which the idea of ‘community’ has been constructed as a panacea to deeply entrenched and preduring street homelessness. There can be no doubt, though, that the critical campaign to end rough sleeping must continue apace. If that progressive promise is to be realised it must be based on an authentic vision of social justice not political expediency or the inner contradictions of the 2012 Olympic project.

Martin Whiteford, PhD Student
School of Health & Social Care, Bournemouth University

References
Cloke, P., Milbourne, P. & Widdowfield, R. (2003) The complex mobilities of homeless people in rural England, Geoforum, Vol. 34 Issue (1) pp. 21 -35.

Communities and Local Government (2008) No One Left Out - Communities Ending Rough Sleeping, Wetherby: Department for Communities and Local Government Publications.

Law, A. & Mooney, G. (2006) Social Capital and Neo-Liberal Voluntarism, Variant 26 Summer, Available at http://www.variant.randomstate.org/26texts/LawMooney26.html

Moore, S. (2008) Neighbourhood Policing and the Punitive Community, Crime Prevention and Community Safety, Vol. 10 Issue (3) pp. 190 – 202.

Pawson, H. (2007) Local Authority Homelessness Prevention in England: Empowering Consumers or Denying Rights? Housing Studies, Vol. 22 No. (6) pp. 867 – 884.

Wednesday 4 March 2009

Scotland Ten Years On Conference

An international two day conference being held in Glasgow Caledonian University, 18-19 June 2009. The conference is being jointly organised between colleagues from the University of the West of Scotland, Glasgow Caledonian University and Glasgow University.

Entitled "Scotland: Ten Years On", the conference comes at a perfect point in time to reflect on the significant events that have taken place since devolution became a political reality; numerous social and political changes have taken place since the referendum supporting the establishment of a Scottish parliament took place.

For further details, and booking information see: http://www.paisley.ac.uk/schoolsdepts/socialsciences/tenyearson/index.asp

Monday 2 March 2009

NEWS FROM CURS, UNIVERSITY OF BIRMINGHAM

Following their winning entry in the SEV (Dutch housing innovation agency) competition to design the housing organsiation of the future, 'Close Neigbours, not Distant Friends' , CURS / University of Brimingham and OTB / TU Delft are working on an action research prorgamme with four English and four Dutch housing associations. These associations want to enact the 'close neighbours' principles including being 'one of us, dependable, aware of what's going on, easily found and taking responsibility' in a project to re-focus their associations on neighbourhood outcomes.

Following a learning exchange event at Clapham Park Estate in south London in November 2008, the associations are working with SEV, hact (the Housing Associations Charitable Trust), OTB and CURS on an 'outcome arena' methodology to map the relationship between their interventions and neighbourhood outcomes. Progress is being tracked by PhD students at the two Universities and it is hoped to include papers based on this innovative project in the Social Housing: Institutional and Organisational Transformations Workshop at ENHR, Prague, July 2009. Close Neighbours is led by Gerard van Bortel (OTB) and David Mullins (CURS). Further information at http://www.curs.bham.ac.uk/research_consultancy/communitiesx/close_neighbours.shtml

NEWS FROM NORTHERN IRELAND HOUSING EXECUTIVE

Northern Ireland Housing Market Review and Perspectives 2009-2012

The Housing Executive launched the latest of its annual Housing Market Review reports at the Northern Ireland Housing Forum on 18th February 2009. The Review provides a comprehensive update on developments in the housing market over the past year in the context of a world recession, and highlights the important role that construction of an increased number of social dwellings can play both in the economy and in meeting housing need. The report can be accessed online: www.nihe.gov.uk/housing_market_review_and_perspectives_2009-12.pdf

The most recent edition of the Housing Executive’s Housing Research Bulletin was also launched at the same event. It summarises findings on a number of subjects, including the extent to which buy-to-let investment impacted on house price growth, how higher-density development can provide quality living space, and the shape and state of Northern Ireland’s HMO sector. Findings on the accommodation needs of Travellers and rural housing need assessment are also featured in this, the eighth Research Bulletin, which can be downloaded at: www.nihe.gov.uk/index/sp_home/research-2/housing_research_bulletin.htm

NEW ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

Flint, J. (2009) "Faith-based schools: institutionalising parallel lives?", in Dinham, A., Furbey, R. and Lowndes, V. (Eds) Faith in the Public Realm: Controversies, Policies and Practices (Bristol: Policy Press), pp. 163-182.

McKee, K. (2009) "Regulating Scotland's Social Landlords: localised resistance to technologies of performance management", Housing Studies 24 (2), pp. 155-171.

McKee, K. (2009) "The ‘Responsible’ Tenant and the Problem of Apathy" Social Policy and Society 8 (1), pp. 25-36.

URBAN STUDIES, UNIVERSITY OF GLASGOW

NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS
David Adams and Chris Leishman have been commissioned by the Campaign to Protect Rural England to investigate the impact of greenfield land release on the viability of brownfield development. The research, which will focus on 10 local authority areas in England, involves building an econometric model of house prices, construction costs and development applications to see whether the development prospects of brownfield locations are undermined by extensive release of nearby greenfield land.

NEWS FROM CRESR, SHEFFIELD HALLAM

NEW RESEARCH PROJECTS
Barriers to Delivering Rural Affordable Housing in Wales
CRESR researchers have been commissioned by the Welsh Assembly government to investigate the barriers to delivering affordable housing in rural areas of Wales, to identify examples of good practice and to make policy recommendations to facilitate the provision of affordable rural housing in a challenging economic and political environment. The research includes a survey of key stakeholders and local planning authorities and detailed case studies. A final report will be produced in June 2009. For information about this study contact John Flint: j.f.flint@shu.ac.uk

Calderdale Irish Health Study
NHS Calderdale (in West Yorkshire) has commissioned CRESR to carry out a new research project to explore the health needs and well being of the older Irish population (50 years and over) in the district. The study will also examine Irish people’s use and experiences of health and health-related services, and the extent to which their health needs are met by existing statutory and voluntary sector providers. A final report will be produced in March 2009. For further information about this study please contact Rionach Casey: r.casey@shu.ac.uk

Green Corridor Strategy Review
A CRESR-led consortium involving Ed Ferrari (University of Sheffield) and MTL Consultants has been commissioned to carry out a Review of the Green Corridor Strategy. The Green Corridor is a joint initiative involving a partnership arrangement between the three local authorities of Barnsley, Doncaster and Wakefield. The programme began as a mechanism to stimulate housing market renewal but has since broadened to encompass wider economic and community objectives. The project aims to review the success and impact of the Green Corridor programme and to ensure that the forward strategy is appropriate to the changing economic context and is aligned with emerging national and regional policies. The Final Report will be produced in June 2009. For further information about this study please contact Ian Cole: i.d.cole@shu.ac.uk

RESEARCH REPORTS
Bashir, N. and Flint, J. (2008) The Construction of a New Mosque in an English City: A Study of the Madina Masjid (Mosque) and Sheffield Islamic Centre (Sheffield: Sheffield Hallam University)

This report presents the findings of a study of a new build mosque and Islamic centre in Sheffield. The study investigated the politics of the new development, the role of the planning process and how the mosque was conceptualised within wider policies aimed at fostering community cohesion in Sheffield.

For further information about this study and a copy of the final report please contact Nadia Bashir: nadia.bashir@shu.ac.uk

OTHER ACTIVITIES
In December 2008, CRESR hosted an exchange study visit to Sheffield by 15 senior policymakers and practitioners from the Netherlands, led by Professor Ronald Van Kempen. The visit included tours of local and regional housing regeneration initiatives and a series of lectures by researchers and academics.

NEWS FROM CLG

  • The process of formulating the analytical programme has begun and it is planned to publish an agreed programme on the CLG website in April 2009
  • Preliminary results from Survey of English Housing 2007/08, http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/sehprelimresults0708
  • English House Condition Survey 2007 - Headline report, http://www.communities.gov.uk/publications/corporate/statistics/ehcs2007headlinereport