Contemporary debates in England about ethnic and religious tensions and community cohesion have included a focus on the role that housing processes play in contributing towards both multiculturalism and dynamics of segregation in urban areas. The role of faith as a particular dimension of cultural identity and urban institutional organisation is increasingly being recognised in English housing policy. This paper argues for a more nuanced conceptualisation of the links between faith and housing aspiration, consumption and provision. Focusing particularly on Muslim and Jewish housing experiences and housing organisations in England, the paper explores how the notion of faith is reconfiguring the traditional emphasis upon ethnicity in debates about equality, diversity and meeting minority needs in the English housing system. It identifies a series of tensions, ambiguities and challenges facing policy-makers in England and other Western European polities in harnessing housing processes in the quest for urban cohesion and diversity.
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John Flint (2009) studied this question.