Community Revitalization in the United States and the United Kingdom

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Abstract

The flow of ideas between the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) includes approaches to housing policy, as the public sectors in both countries have turned toward the private sector to help provide affordable housing and support redevelopment activities. The Urban Institute and the Institute for Community Cohesion developed an innovative program of work to compare approaches to community revitalization, community cohesion and sustainable neighborhoods in cities across both countries. Ultimately, the purpose of the project is to influence policy and practice agendas in the UK and US by highlighting effective strategies for revitalizing communities and building community cohesion. This report describes the project, discusses contextual differences between the two countries that affect subsidized housing, and highlights lessons drawn from the exchanges that took place during the spring and summer of 2008.

Introduction

There has long been a transatlantic flow of ideas between the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States (US) in everything from cultural trends to political and economic theories and practices. In recent years this flow has included approaches to housing policy, as the public sectors in both countries have turned toward the private sector to help provide affordable housing. This change has been led by policy and practice in the US, where it has occurred to a greater degree. In particular, the US’ HOPE VI program has served as a model for the redevelopment, or regeneration, of housing developments serving very low income families. Characteristics of the model include the use of mixed-financing for the demolition and construction of new housing, private-sector housing developers (both for-profit and not-forprofit) in the construction of new developments that include a mix of deeply subsidized public housing units, moderately subsidized affordable units and unsubsidized rental and homeownership units, and a supportive services component contracted out to other public and/or not-for-profit entities. While this approach to the provision of public and affordable housing has been taking place in the US, there have been efforts underway in the UK to sell social housing units to individual owners and to re-envision community regeneration along the lines of mixedincome communities.

It is within this context that Harris Beider of the Institute of Community Cohesion (iCoCo) in the UK and Susan Popkin and Diane Levy of the Urban Institute (UI) in the US developed an innovative 12-month program of work to compare approaches to community revitalization, community cohesion and sustainable neighborhoods in cities across both countries. The project, which began in January 2008, is sponsored by the Rockefeller, MacArthur and Casey Foundations in the US, and Birmingham City Council, Clapham Park Homes (CPH), Coventry City Council, Notting Hill Housing Group and iCoCo in the UK. A hallmark of the program is the inclusion of public and private housing practitioners, private foundations, and policy researchers, which has allowed for rich learning opportunities between the two countries and across professions.

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