Claude Hendrickson MBE calls for greater Black community ownership of land and housing through self-build projects and community land trusts.

The Leeds housing pioneer says community ownership can provide Black families with secure homes, employment and something lasting to pass to future generations.

Black communities in Britain need greater control over land, not merely access to houses built and owned by others, according to community-led housing pioneer Claude Hendrickson MBE.

Speaking to Jude Davis in a new Power To Prosper interview, Hendrickson said many African, Caribbean and Asian families come from cultures in which land represents security, inheritance and belonging.

“Where we originate from, we talk about land first. In the UK, we talk about the house on the land.”

Hendrickson, who is based in Chapeltown, Leeds, works to increase awareness of self-build housing and community land trusts among Black and minority-ethnic communities.

These models allow residents to play a direct role in securing land, developing homes and controlling community assets—rather than remaining dependent upon private developers, landlords or housing waiting lists.

Hendrickson has already demonstrated what can be achieved. He helped leading the Frontline Community Self Build scheme, through which unemployed African-Caribbean men and their families gained construction skills while building homes for themselves in Chapeltown.

The project eventually produced a street of 12 houses. Hendrickson described it as his greatest achievement after becoming a father. Accounts of the scheme show that many participants subsequently found employment in construction.

His intervention comes amid continuing concern that Black communities remain underrepresented within Britain’s community-led housing sector.

Research co-authored by Hendrickson found that the housing needs of Black and minority-ethnic communities were frequently unmet or under-prioritised. Participants also identified access to land, inconsistent funding and exclusion from decision-making as significant barriers. The University of Liverpool published the findings.

For Hendrickson, community ownership is about more than bricks and mortar. It offers people a sense of belonging, creates safer neighbourhoods and gives families the power to shape the places in which their children will grow up.

His message is clear: solving housing inequality must involve giving communities control over the land beneath their homes.