Community groups are a lifeline in the cost-of-living crisis

With many people under increasing financial pressure, community groups originally set up to provide support during the pandemic have become a central part of the local response. New research by LSE Housing and Communities reveals the extent of the task at hand, as well as the challenges these groups face, and the risks presented if their work is not fully understood and supported, explain Eleanor Benton and Anne Power

Community responses to the coronavirus pandemic: how mutual aid can help : case study report

The COVID-19 pandemic and the lockdown that followed created a unique set of circumstances: people over 70 and those with underlying health conditions were forced to self-isolate; day to day activities stopped; people began working from home and were cut off from families and friends. The forced closure of many businesses created economic anxieties and nine million people were put on furlough. The virus put extra pressure on NHS staff and carers who had to continue their day to day duties. In response to these unprecedented circumstances, a wave of community spirit spread across the country. 750,000 people signed up to the NHS volunteer scheme, 250,000 signed up to local volunteer schemes in the first 3 weeks of lockdown, and there are countless examples of small local initiatives to raise people's spirits such as community gardens. Alongside this wave of volunteering, there was a surge in the formation of mutual aid groups. There are now 43000 mutual aid groups across the country. LSE Housing and Communities has a long-standing interest in the role of mutual aid in helping to tackle community problems. To capture the community response to the pandemic and understand the role that mutual aid groups were having in helping people in communities we contacted 70 mutual aid groups and selected 20 to be the main focus of our research. Our main findings are available in our report “Community Responses to the Coronavirus Pandemic: How mutual aid can help” (https://sticerd.lse.ac.uk/dps/case/cr/casereport134.pdf). We also had conversations with organisations such as housing associations that were going above and beyond their everyday duties to support their tenants. This report contains 21 case studies representing a range of type, size, and geographical locations of groups. We hope the case studies demonstrate the amazing work that the groups are doing to support their local communities. This research was conducted between May and September 2020 and the information in this report reflects information that was gathered during this period

Where next for Britain’s 4,300 mutual aid groups?

Thousands of mutual aid groups have sprung up in the UK since 2020, but what do we know about them, and can they sustain volunteering after the pandemic is over? Anne Power and Ellie Benton (LSE) suggest ways that local government could support the groups, and warn that they must not become a replacement for public services

Community responses to the cost-of-living crisis

The cost-of-living crisis is affecting households across the UK, many of whom are increasingly struggling to meet day-to-day costs, including energy, food, transport, and other essentials. With limited state support to address the crisis, households are turning to community groups and other anchor organisations for basic provisions, such as food and clothes. LSE Housing and Communities set out to understand how these groups were working, how demand for services has changed, and what community groups need to continue providing this vital support. We interviewed and carried out site visits to twenty grassroots community groups, and six anchor organisations working to help people through the crisis. The work we uncovered was extremely inspiring. The groups have an acute awareness of growing local needs, are mainly volunteer-led, and are increasingly being relied upon by statutory services. The groups show the power of community action in addressing local problems, whilst recognising that community action alone is not enough to address the root causes of the crisis. We need an overhaul of wages, benefits, and the economy to tackle the wider problems of poverty, low incomes, and rising costs

Keeping communities together: how smaller social landlords and community-led housing can provide affordable, secure, low cost accommodation for communities in need

This report sets out the potential for small, community-based housing organisations to deliver homes for people in housing need, within their own communities. It uncovers innovative examples and models for how this can be done. The case study section is followed by a discussion, highlighting the unique role of small and community-led housing organisations, the barriers to their development, and recommendations for future policy action

Never just a number: evaluating the impact of a holistic approach to UK poverty

The core aim of the research is to show the social value of CAP’s work in tackling poverty and related problems of debt, joblessness, dependency, and low capacity. The evaluation covers the four main strands of CAP’s approach to helping people: Debt Advice Centres; back to work Job Clubs; programmes tackling low-grade dependencies through Fresh Start groups; and Life Skills groups, which help people to develop capacity to manage on low incomes. In order to understand CAP’s approach and working method in helping people to escape poverty and indebtedness, LSE interviewed Debt Centre Managers, clients, volunteers, and HQ staff. A further aim of the research is to propose a headline Social Return on Investment (SROI) figure for each of the frontline services; provide an overall headline SROI figure for the charity as a whole; and develop an estimate of the wider societal cost of debt, unemployment, addiction and poor life skills. It then becomes possible to show the savings to society brought about through CAP’s intervention, assessing the outcomes for service users following intervention. LSE Housing and Communities aims to apply a theory of change to the work of CAP, identifying core principles, tools and hoped for outcomes

Social Cost Benefit Analysis of the no recourse to public funds (NRPF) policy in London

This report estimates the monetised social and economic gains (benefits) of removing of the No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF) condition for certain household in England. It compares this to the costs of allowing them to be able to apply for welfare benefits and various public services paid for from public funds. This is in the form of a Social Cost Benefit Analysis and was prepared as an independent analysis for the Greater London Authority. The households in scope are households and families with visas statuses including the right to work, some of whom are on visa routes that could lead to long-term settlement in the UK. These includes holders of Tier 1, 2 or 5 visas who come to the UK to work and their dependents; those who are in the UK because of family links; dependents or others who are linked to the primary visa holder and those estimated to come via the Hong Kong British National Overseas scheme. The report estimates that there are approximately 362,000 households, including 106,000 households with children, would potentially be affected by lifting the NRPF condition. Access to public funds would be restricted by existing qualifying conditions limiting access to welfare benefits and other services to households in need of this public assistance. It found that, over ten years, removing the NRPF condition just for households with children and other vulnerable individuals would result in a net gain of £872 million. Removing the condition for all those on these visas would result in a £428 million net gain

Butterfly communities in miombo woodland: biodiversity declines with increaing woodland utilisation

Deforestation and degradation is threatening forests and woodlands globally. The deciduous miombo woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa are no exception, yet little is known about the flora and fauna they contain and the implications of their loss. Butterflies are recognised as indicators of environmental change; however the responses of butterflies in miombo woodlands have received little attention. This paper describes butterfly assemblages and their response to woodland utilisation in an understudied area of miombo woodland in south-west Tanzania. This is an area representative of miombo woodlands throughout sub-Saharan Africa, where woodland is utilised by local communities for a range of products, and is being rapidly converted to agriculture. Baited canopy traps and sweep nets were used to sample frugivorous and nectarivorous butterfly communities at different vertical stratifications in nine different study sites. 104 species were recorded, of which 16 are miombo specialists that have been recorded in Tanzania to the west of the country only. Indicator species were identified for three different levels of utilisation, with species from the sub-family Satyrinae indicating moderate utilisation. Generalised linear mixed effects models showed that butterfly species richness, diversity and abundance all decreased in response to increasing agriculture and anthropogenic utilisation. The loss of miombo woodlands is likely to result in declines in butterfly diversity. However, there was evidence of an intermediate disturbance effect for butterfly species richness, diversity and abundance with one utilisation variable, suggesting that a miombo woodland management plan that allows moderate sustainable utilisation in a heterogeneous landscape of mature miombo woodland and agriculture will simultaneously maintain butterfly communities and enable agricultural production

Miombo woodland under threat : Consequences for tree diversity and carbon storage

Agriculture is expanding rapidly in the miombo woodlands of sub-Saharan Africa. Clear felling results in the loss of species and ecosystem services. The remaining woodland is used as a vital support system for the farming communities, and the impact of this utilisation on biodiversity and ecosystem service provision is not clear. Understanding these effects will aid the development of effective, sustainable land management strategies for multiple outcomes, including biodiversity conservation and resource utilisation. This study provides new data on miombo woodland tree species diversity, structure and carbon storage from a 8766km2 landscape in south-western Tanzania, which is undergoing rapid conversion to tobacco cultivation.Human utilisation of the woodland was classified by ground surveys which recorded evidence of use (e.g. cut poles and timber, removal of bark and roots, access routes). Nine sites were surveyed and categorised into three groups: high, medium and low utilisation. To determine the effect of utilisation on the tree community stem density, diameter at breast height, tree species richness and carbon storage were recorded. In the low utilisation sites carbon storage was similar to that found in other miombo woodlands (28tHa-1), and the Shannon Wiener diversity score for tree species diversity was 3.44. However, in the high utilisation sites, tree species diversity (2.86) and carbon storage declined (14.6tHa-1). In areas of moderate utilisation diversity and carbon storage were maintained, but the structure of the woodland was affected, with a reduction of Class 1 (Diameter at Breast Height (DBH)<10cm) stems, demonstrating low recruitment which leads to a reduction in sustainability. Tree species richness and abundance demonstrated an intermediate disturbance effect in relation to utilisation, with highest levels at medium utilisation sites.Key miombo woodland species from the subfamily Caesalpinioideae in the two genera Brachystegia and Julbernardia were present in all sites, but the frequency of Brachystegia species declined by 60% from low to high utilisation. The IUCN near-threatened timber species Pterocarpus angolensis, highly protected in Tanzania, was harvested throughout the study site, and the majority of trees recorded were immature (DBH. ≤. 20. cm), suggesting that it is commercially extinct for the foreseeable future.These findings illustrate that in miombo woodlands with low to medium utilisation levels key miombo species are retained, and tree species diversity and carbon storage remains optimal. Sustainable land management plans need to regulate utilisation within miombo landscapes and retain areas of woodland. This will ensure their long term viability, and continue to support the 100. million people who are reliant on miombo woodlands for their goods and services