Moving Towards Integrated Communities in Northern Ireland: New Approaches to Mixed Housing

Over recent years, residential segregation of the two main religious communities in Northern Ireland has become the focus of much government and media attention both locally and internationally. Whilst residential segregation locally ignores tenure boundaries, research has established it to be most stark within non-market housing. This segregation among social housing tenants is, in many ways, a function of tenant preference rather than a deliberate allocations policy. In 2005, Government launched a new vision for Northern Ireland in the policy document ‘A Shared Future’, which outlined a commitment to developing mixed housing schemes, thereby providing choice to those who wish to live within mixed communities. The aim of this initiative is to encourage a move away from polarisation, towards the integration of communities. Within this context, recent moves to promote a more integrated society through the creation of mixed housing and integrated communities are debated.