by the Rt Revd Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani, diocesan Bishop of Chelmsford and lead Bishop for Housing in the Church of England
As a sign of how important the housing crisis is to the leaders of the Church, last year the Archbishop of Canterbury appointed me as the first Bishop for Housing in the Church of England.
Although I have no expertise in housing, I know something of what it is to be homeless. I arrived in Britain in 1980 as a 13-year-old refugee, following the impact of the Islamic Revolution in my home country of Iran. Having left with no more than a suitcase each, my family and I were welcomed here and were offered housing in a theological college and then a vacant vicarage. That stability gave us a base and the stability from which we were able to start building new lives.
40 years later I am responsible for making sure the recommendations of ‘Coming Home’, the report of the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Community, are taken forward.
This is a daunting challenge, but what motivates me is that I’m passionate about the church being involved in working for greater social justice. Since 8 million people in England are living in overcrowded, unaffordable or unsuitable housing (which in turn leads to many other social problems), it seems to me there is a clear call for Christians across all denominations to work towards housing provision.
The Coming Home report spells out a distinct Christian vision for housing and community. The scriptures tell a story of a journey from a God-provided home, of humanity then becoming ‘homeless’, moving out into a dangerous world, and then of a long process of redemption which leads back home again – but to one that looks different from the first.
The report unpacked this trajectory and from it developed five core values to characterise all good housing. First the story of Creation and humanity’s role in stewarding the earth means that our housing must be sustainable; the built environment needs to be in harmony with the natural environment, and our housing should be high on quality but low on carbon.
The pervasive reality of sin means that God’s good creation is susceptible to environmental and social disintegration. Homes aren’t always places of protection, nor communities free from injustice and exploitation. Physical housing can be poorly built, standards compromised, and repairs neglected, which is why good housing will always put a high value on safety.
Thirdly, the incarnation reaffirms the goodness of the physical creation and the value of human communities having places and spaces where they belong. Good housing should therefore offer stability, where local people can afford to live and put down roots, so they and their families can thrive.
God’s redeemed people – the Church – represent a new kind of humanity, no longer governed by unjust distinctions based on race, class, gender, sexuality, ability or income. This translates into a commitment to housing that is welcoming and sociable, with hospitable spaces that can help people from different cultures, faiths and backgrounds find a place of connection, and build long term relationships.
Finally, the vision of the new creation means that although we will never achieve perfection in housing in this age, we can still work towards the one to come, where all is healed and transformed, and God is at home among us. Housing that reflects this means the architecture, design and technology all work together to create satisfying places of beauty that people delight to live in.
This reflection provides five simple values as the benchmark for the Church’s engagement in the housing sector: good housing is sustainable, safe, stable, sociable and satisfying. The language is accessible for people of all faiths or none, yet there is theological depth undergirding each of the five values.
An example of a church-initiated response to the shortage of affordable homes has been in Keswick. Back in 2009, Keswick Churches Together hosted a series of open meetings on issues facing the town. Housing kept coming up in these conversations, as many people who were born in the town, had gone to school there, or worked in Keswick, were living in substandard accommodation at unaffordable rents, or were being forced to commute into the town from miles away.
A working group was assembled to think about the best response to the need for more and better housing, and Keswick Community Housing Trust (KCHT) was set up as a result. The vicar of St John’s Church in Keswick offered to sell them a piece of land next to the church graveyard, and 11 affordable homes were built there. The success of this led to three more developments by KCHT, one of them on land that had belonged to the Methodist Church. Around half the homes are for shared ownership and the other half are let out at rents that are truly affordable in perpetuity – measured in relation to local earnings, not market rents.
This experience from Keswick was shared with the Commissioners and features in the Coming Home report. We would love to see many more grass roots initiatives like that, so we want to invite you to be part of this journey. We’re setting up a Church Housing Foundation to empower the Church to engage with housing at all levels, and are looking to collaborate with any partners, groups or individuals who share this vision and want to see God’s kingdom expressed through bricks and mortar – delightful homes and thriving communities up and down the country.
Any thoughts?