Community Capacity Building and Social Policy: Health, Housing and Community Regeneration

This chapter examines the way in which the practice of community capacity building can be understood in the context of social development generally, and within the welfare sectors of housing, health and community regeneration particularly. Whilst the context of community capacity building varies from one sector to another, from the entrenched power of health professionals vis-a-vis the "community" of health users to a longer history of debate within housing work, a range of common issues emerges from examining practice in these sectors. Drawing broadly on examples from OECD member countries in the three areas of social policy identified, this chapter explores these issues including the confusing use of language, the disparate power held by statutory partners as compared to the community when negotiating over building capacity, and a range of internal and external factors which promote, or impede, community capacity building.