{"id":531,"date":"2026-06-26T14:56:47","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/?p=531"},"modified":"2026-06-26T14:56:47","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T13:56:47","slug":"how-to-talk-about-homes-and-immigration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/how-to-talk-about-homes-and-immigration\/","title":{"rendered":"How to talk about homes and immigration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Natalie Tate, \u2018Talking about Homes\u2019 project lead at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, describes their new toolkit on how to talk about homes in the context of the immigration debate. CIH is holding a <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cih.org\/events\/how-to-talk-about-homes-and-immigration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\"><em>webinar<\/em><\/a><em> based on this on Tuesday 13 July.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Talking about Homes project is seeking to change the conversation about homes in the UK. When the conversation about homes becomes focused on immigration, it can divert communicators from the wider conversations the housing sector wants and needs to have about the root causes of the housing crisis, and the systemic changes that would help to increase the availability of decent and affordable homes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">With this in mind &#8211; Talking about Homes, funded by Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Nationwide Foundation, and in partnership with FrameWorks UK &#8211; has developed an evidence base and framing recommendations to help communicators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Launched in June, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jrf.org.uk\/narrative-change\/toolkit-how-to-talk-about-homes-and-immigration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">How to Talk about Homes and Immigration toolkit<\/a> supports communicators who want to strategically shift the narrative.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">These are its recommendations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Emphasise the collective benefits of decent, affordable homes for everyone<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Start with what we all have to gain, before talking about benefits to individuals or specific groups.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Position housing as a shared need: we all need a home.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Explain how, when we have the solid foundation of a home, we&#8217;re more able to contribute to society and take part in our communities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Make building communities part of the story<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Make communities part of the story. Tap into the understanding that a decent home is about more than the building we live in.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Combine calls for more housing with calls for more community infrastructure \u2013 like doctors, dentists, public transport, and schools.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Paint a picture of what is possible and how communities can and must have a meaningful role in getting there.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Show that our housing system can be improved<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Start with solutions \u2013 focus first on what is working, and how things could work better, before talking about what isn\u2019t.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Break down problems and solutions into manageable steps and concrete examples \u2013 and make sure solutions match the scale of the challenges we face.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Emphasise that our government can and should act to improve our housing system. Give examples of where progress has been made, as well as where there is more work to be done.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Focus on responsibility and accountability, not blame<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Establish responsibility and accountability by explaining how problems have come about, building up over decades in our housing system.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Highlight:\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Examples of how parts of our housing system are set up to make profit<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How this is often to the detriment of collective benefits to communities<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Show this could be changed through government regulation with the aim of rebalancing the system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Talk about how the housing system could be redesigned, rather than focusing on blame, or overstating the role of any one responsible body for causing housing problems.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do take a look at the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jrf.org.uk\/narrative-change\/toolkit-how-to-talk-about-homes-and-immigration\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">How to Talk about Homes and Immigration toolkit<\/a> for more detail on these recommendations, as well as practical examples. It contains practical tips and tools for applying framing strategies in a range of contexts, including:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>How they can be applied to communications about homes<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How they can be used when talking specifically about homes and immigration<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>How they can help to direct the conversation to the factors that will be most effective in improving our housing system.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you are a CIH member, you can also join <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cih.org\/events\/how-to-talk-about-homes-and-immigration\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\">CIH\u2019s webinar<\/a> on Tuesday 13 July:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Help you to understand and navigate how people think about homes and immigration<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Learn how to frame communications in ways that sidestep blame, and tap into more collective and systemic thinking<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Receive practical guidance and examples for how to redirect the conversation.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Talking about Homes is funded by Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Nationwide Foundation. Research was carried out by FrameWorks UK. More information at: <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.jrf.org.uk\/narrative-change\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" title=\"\"><em>Narrative change | Joseph Rowntree Foundation<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Natalie Tate, \u2018Talking about Homes\u2019 project lead at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, describes their new toolkit on how to talk about homes in the context&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":532,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","slim_seo":{"title":"How to talk about homes and immigration - Housing Rights","description":"Natalie Tate, \u2018Talking about Homes\u2019 project lead at the Joseph Rowntree Foundation, describes their new toolkit on how to talk about homes in the context of the"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-531","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-guest-articles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=531"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":533,"href":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/531\/revisions\/533"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/532"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/housing-rights.info\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}