Creating sustainable communities is one of the six Leeds Housing Strategy themes. Housing Leeds officers have worked with community based Housing Advisory Panels to support a number of intercultural projects in deprived areas of the city, including community fun days, digital access projects, parenting programmes etc. One recent example has included work in the Lincoln Green area with Active Leeds, Employment and Skills and St James hospital to promote and deliver a NHS Employability Programme to local people from diverse communities to help them develop the skills needed in order to apply for roles at the hospital. As a result of the programme 49 local people were offered a role in the hospital. The Leeds Lettings Policy ensures a fair and transparent policy for the letting of Council Homes, prioritising applicants based on their level of need and allowing customers to bid for a home in areas that they wish to live. As part of the lettings policy there is the ability to develop local lettings policies to respond to particular local need. One example of where a local lettings policy was used to support intercultural aims was for the letting of new Council homes in the Little London area, where Housing Leeds staff worked with families with children living in high rise flats in the area and local schools to promote family housing to a community speaking 57 different languages. This helped to create a diverse and sustainable new build community.
