This briefing, the first to be published by the Faith and Belief Policy Collective (FBPC), aims to track key areas of government policy, highlighting the perspectives and experience of faith and belief groups in the UK, and suggesting policy initiatives based on those very perspectives and experience.

This paper focuses on the issue of housing, and in particular the government's plans to start its highly ambitious target of 1.5 million homes within the lifetime of this parliament through the designation of 12 New Towns as well as several new settlements and extensions to existing areas. It has sought the perspectives of 12 leading practitioners from across faith and belief as well as those from relevant disciplines including town planners, architects, housing developers, community workers and activists, social historians and business people. The findings from the research fall into four categories which shape the structure of the briefing itself: 

• What constitutes planning and design that undermines flourishing and sustainable communities?
• What constitutes planning and design that supports flourishing and sustainable communities? 
• What are the resources that faith and belief bring to the development of flourishing and sustainable communities?
• What are some of the obstacles that prevent faith and belief contributing to the planning and development of flourishing and sustainable communities?

The briefing concludes with a short series of follow-on recommendations for further research and policy ideas. It was steered by an Advisory Group from FBPC and made possible with the generous financial and resourcing support of the Cambridge Interfaith Programme, and its Director Dr Iona Hine.