Family Housing Association (Birmingham) Ltd has appointed Dennis Minnis to the new post of Refugee Partnership Coordinator for North West Birmingham.  Dennis will coordinate a multi-agency partnership between refugee organisations, other major housing associations and Birmingham City Council which has been established to help overcome the barriers facing refugees settling into communities.  This project has been developed with the help of a grant from the Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust (hact) Accommodate project (which is funded by the Big Lottery Fund) and the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and is one of only 5 similar pilot projects nationally.

The project is the first of its kind in the West Midlands and already been recognised in a Good Practice guide published by the Chartered Institute of Housing.  Dennis brings a wealth of experience in working with Refugees and Asylum seekers after working for St Basils for many years as the manager of The Link Homelessness Centre and more recently as centre manager for Trinity Housing Resource.  Dennis is a former Birmingham City Council cabinet member for housing and served as a Ward Councillor for Edgbaston for a number of years.

The project will link closely to the work of the Birmingham and Sandwell Housing Market Renewal Pathfinder Area and will explore opportunities for refugees to play a role in neighbourhood renewal.  This part of the city has been identified by the Government as one of nine areas across the UK where problems of low-demand housing are most acute and therefore funding has been provided to create diverse, cohesive and flourishing multi-cultural neighbourhoods.  

David Stevenson, Head of Regeneration said “Family are very pleased to have appointed Dennis to lead this project in view of the skills and experience that he will bring to the role.  We hope to make a real difference to the lives of refugees living in the North West of Birmingham and will use our experiences to inform the development of similar initiatives in other neighbourhoods in Birmingham and beyond’.

Family has over forty years of experience in providing housing in areas with significant black and minority ethnic communities and are committed to the regeneration of deprived neighbourhoods.

This project is independently being evaluated by Birmingham University’s Centre for Urban Regional Studies (CURS).