Regional intermediary actors and professionalism in community-led housing: implications of the enabler hub network in England

Abstract

Community-led housing initiatives address housing challenges through citizen participation and collective action. Despite increasing interest, their impact remains limited in scale. In England, community-led housing enabler hubs were established with government and charitable funding to support sector growth through professional support for volunteer groups. This study examines the implementation of these regional intermediary organisations using qualitative data from three case study regions and the national context. Findings suggest that whilst the intervention was welcomed as a route to increased access and scale within the sector, tensions were apparent between the development of a professionalised intermediary service and the grassroots nature of community-led housing development. The findings show enabler hubs declined after the discontinuation of core funding. This reflects the challenges of short-termism and projectification found throughout the third sector.