A Guide to Engaging Muslim Communities John Perry and A Azim El-Hassan

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This guide is about engaging Muslim communities – whether mainly social housing tenants (eg Bangladeshi communities in Tower Hamlets, Somali communities in Sheffield) or mainly living in older, owner-occupied neighbourhoods (eg Pakistani communities in Bradford). The emphasis is on engaging with poorer communities that are likely to be socially excluded and may be directly affected by housing or regeneration programmes.

Within Muslim communities, there may well be 'hard-to-reach' groups whose engagement is even more important. For example, some people may be recent arrivals in a particular place (and may or may not have been accepted by other communities already living there). Some groups may be poorer and more excluded than others. And women and young people within Muslim communities may need to be approached in different ways if they are to be engaged successfully.

This is an issue which should be of interest to all housing and regeneration agencies, and fortunately there is already experience of working successfully with Muslim communities and ‘breaking down the barriers’ which may appear to exist. In preparing the briefing we have looked at experience that already exists, talked to those involved, and discussed the principles and ‘good practice’ approaches that can lead to successful engagement. Based on such discussions, the guide calls not for a ‘faith-based’ approach to services, but one which is sensitive to the needs of different faiths – in this case Islam.

Sponsored by the Matrix Housing Partnership

 ISBN 978 1 905018 68 0    Order no: 700     Published: June 2008

Contents

• Chapter one: What the guide is about
• Chapter two: Why Muslim Communities?
• Chapter three: Britain's Muslim Population – Some Basic Facts
• Chapter four: Muslim Communities and Housing
• Chapter six: What does being 'Muslim' mean?
• Chapter seven: Engaging Muslim Communities – Getting started
• Chapter eight: Engaging marginalised communities
• Chapter nine: Surveys of Muslim communities
• Chapter ten: Building partnerships with Muslim community organisations
• Chapter eleven: Working with Muslim women
• Chapter twelve: Working with young people
• Chapter thirteen: Meeting community requirements in new build schemes and home ownership initiatives
• Chapter fourteen: Meeting community requirements through regeneration
• Chapter fifteen: Key messages about engaging Muslim communities
• Chapter sixteen: Funding for engagement with Muslim communities
• Chapter seventeen: Sources of further information on working with Muslim communities

Also available as a download (PDF: 1.18 MB)

Further reading

• Community Cohesion and Housing: a good practice guide
• Housing Race and Community Cohesion
• Successful Neighbourhoods: a good practice guide