Mixed Communities:Do They Matter and Can We

Create Them?

Keith Kintrea

Department of Urban Studies

Keith Kintrea, Dept of Urban Studies

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“We should try to introduce in our modern villages and towns what was always the lovely feature of English and Welsh villages, where the doctor, the grocer, the butcher and the farm labourer all lived in the same street. I believe that it is essential for the full life of a citizen to see the living tapestry of a mixed community.”

(Aneurin Bevan, Housing Minister, 1945)

Keith Kintrea, Dept of Urban Studies

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‘A key focus of our housing and regeneration policies is the creation

of mixed communities- communities where among other things there is a mix of incomes and sufficient range, diversity, affordability and accessibility of housing within a balanced market’

(People and Place: Regeneration Policy Statement, 2006)

Keith Kintrea, Dept of Urban Studies

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Unmixed Communities: Trends1. Increasing inequalities in labour markets and

income2. A large group experiencing disadvantage3. Deepening residential segregation and

tenure polarisation4. Social housing as a welfare ‘safety net’5. A tendency for disadvantaged groups to

separate from the mainstream (the ‘socially excluded’; the ‘underclass’)

6. In poor areas- social disorganisation; poor socialisation and disorder

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New and TransferredTenants

All Adults (up to 74) in Housing AssociationHouses

All Adults (up to 74) in Scotland

Working full time or part time

33.0 38.0 58.5

Training 0.4 - -

Unemployed 32.9 8.5 4.0

Retired 18.3 14.0 13.0

At home 3.6 13.0 5.6

Student 1.7 5.9 6.8

Long term sick 9.7 17.3 7.2

Other 0.4 7.6 3.8

Source: SCORE Digest 2004-05; Census 2001

Economic Status of Housing Association Residents

Keith Kintrea, Dept of Urban Studies

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Keith Kintrea, Dept of Urban Studies

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‘’Neighbourhood Effects’’

Is it worse to be poor in a poor area or one which is more socially diverse?

What is the effect of living in a poor area on an individual/household on their life-chances?

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The natural experiment

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How do area effects operate?

Social isolation e.g. away from labour markets Social networks e.g. restricted to the neighbourhood,

lack of information about opportunities Norms and expectations e.g. lack of diversity of role

models The interaction of poverty concentration with

services e.g. higher pressure/less political efficacy and therefore poorer quality services

Keith Kintrea, Dept of Urban Studies

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Proposition Mechanism Social Isolation Relatively isolated social world where

deprived people mainly associate with each other

Socially and geographically restricted social networks

The reinforcement or extension of inequalities through:

- an absence of weak ties - constraining social capital - the levelling down of aspirations - stigma, leading to external

discrimination and internal intensification of low self esteem

Shared norms and expectations

Development of shared beliefs and expectations among local residents as a consequence of isolation. Depending on political position this is also sometimes linked to the development of unconventional social norms as a response to living in poverty

Keith Kintrea, Dept of Urban Studies

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Barriers to mixed communities?(Evening Times 14th November 2006)

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Can we create them? National policy Housing development Housing management Greater permeability

Building new mixed communities Injecting mix into majority deprived

neighbourhoods

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National Policy

Improve economic prospects through jobs growth and/ or tax and benefit changes

Greater tenure neutrality/ ‘reinvention’ of social housing

Presumption in favour of social mix for all new housing developments by strengthening planning gain measures in the planning system and creative use of public funding and leverage

Keith Kintrea, Dept of Urban Studies

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Approaches to Housing Development

Building or improving social housing in already deprived areas just maintains their poor status, so instead:

Concentrate social housing ‘investment’ away from existing deprived areas

De-link subsidy from place by offering ‘portable subsidies’ instead of carrying out in-situ housing redevelopment

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Housing Management

Key is to find ways to attract more people that have other choices:

Allocations- the problem or the solution? Choice based lettings? Better estate management? ‘Wider role’?

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Increase Permeability

Increase the inward and outward permeability of deprived areas by:

Putting transport into the regeneration agenda Giving people more reason and incentive to

travel outwith their home neighbourhoods Providing services and attractions within

deprived areas which make them attractive to visit for outsiders

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So..