Harriett recently attended the CIH webinar: How to build consensus for more homes. This is a project that’s being co-funded by the Nationwide Foundation and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation. The session aims to increase support for building new homes in local communities. Read Harriett’s key takeaways from the session.
For communities to embrace the prospect of building more homes, the language we use is crucial as our intentions and messaging can be easily misunderstood.
Research by Frameworks UK sheds light on the public’s key mindsets about housing. It reveals that people often associate home ownership with wealth and view it primarily as a profitable investment. Renting, by contrast, is typically seen as a temporary solution, not a long term place to settle.
Interestingly, while the public is well aware of the health risks posed by poor housing, such as damp and mould, they rarely consider the positive health benefits that a good quality home can provide.
There is also a widespread recognition of housing inequality. However, this is often dismissed as a fact of life, with a fatalistic view that ‘that’s just how things are’. To move forward, we must challenge this mindset and reframe the debate.
Building support
There are three key points to address when speaking to the public about housing: Why it matters, show why new homes are needed and share the vision.
Why it matters
We must explain that the housing shortage is a collective issue – ‘not me, but WE’. Frameworks UK found that people believe everybody should have a home, and many people widely hold this value. However, we need to remind people that everyone needs decent, affordable housing to create a sense of moral obligation and re-frame the language using moral responsibility. Using words like ‘we’, ‘us’, ‘together’ and ‘our’ counters any individualism.
Show why new homes are needed
When showing why new homes are needed, we need to break it down for audiences. People may think there are enough empty homes or unused brownfield sites and while these are good solutions, we still need to explain why new homes are needed.
For example, stating something like ‘Building on appropriate green belt land is essential for solving the housing crisis’ doesn’t offer enough explanation, compared with if the statement was followed by ‘because’ or ‘this would mean’.
It’s also important to explain the different types of homes – research shows many people are familiar with the term ‘council house’ but not so much with words like ‘social housing’, ‘social rent’ and ‘social homes’, so we can’t take for granted that people know what these terms mean.
Share the vision
We must show and demonstrate the benefits of genuinely affordable homes and strong communities. We can do this by connecting our homes with our health and showing that living in a warm, safe home is essential for staying healthy and well. This can be portrayed with imagery, ideally with people featured, not just photos of homes – the focus needs to be on the people living in them.
It’s fine to raise the economic argument for building more social homes, but we would want to do this only after we’ve discussed the benefits that quality housing can have on people’s health and wellbeing.
The word ‘foundation’ is useful too. ‘New homes will provide a firm foundation for families living in Wrexham’ feels much more powerful.
Summary
If we want to change the narrative around the housing crisis, we need to understand that we’re part of a bigger movement. By making conscious choices with our language, for example, by using the word ‘homes’ rather than ‘housing’, we will help to build support for building new homes.
There is broad support for building more homes; however, it’s common to face opposition when making the case in local communities or for specific plots of land.
We need to be able to pre-empt what the public’s reaction might be when they discover new homes are to be built in their communities and make sure we’re fully explaining the benefits, to maximise understanding and approval.
To talk about how you can reframe housing with your audiences, drop us a message at hello@see-media.co.uk
