Rethinking Home – our work with Local Trust on engaging transient communities

The increasing movement and ‘churn’ of people within Big Local areas are major challenges to community development, placing pressures on social cohesion. Just Ideas worked with Local Trust and a range of Big Local areas between January and March 2019 on this research into the experience of, and potential for, Big Local areas to engage with ‘new’ or transient groups or communities in their areas.

Just Ideas’ Associate – and co-author of “Rethinking Home” – Graeme Fancourt brings his personal insight into the work to life in his blog for Local Trust.

The report summarises what we heard in interviews and through work in the focus areas about what facilitates and encourages engagement with transient communities, as well as the challenges encountered. The communities include people who are recent immigrants, are transient due to housing tenure or those who are passing through because they are following seasonal work or are part of a gypsy or traveller community. It describes how choices around values, approaches and structures can make a difference to successful engagement by Big Local areas. The findings are being shared with Big Locals to support their work and are relevant to current community development work more widely.