New community projects to tackle housing, wealth and youth employment challenges in York and North Yorkshire

Posted on Wednesday 17 June 2026

Backed by the £1 million New Horizons Fund, a partnership between the University’s School for Business and Society and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation (JRF), the initiatives bring together researchers, local residents, grassroots groups and councils to find practical solutions that support the region's economic and social wellbeing.

Each project will be co-produced with University of York academics and local communities to ensure the work directly responds to the immediate needs of neighbourhoods across York and North Yorkshire.

The successful projects were officially unveiled on Monday 15 June at a public event held by the University of York’s Social Policy Research Unit at the Guildhall York.

Opportunity and equality

The first project, “Revisiting Rowntree: Wealth, ownership and place in the City of York”, marks 125 years since Seebohm Rowntree’s foundational study of poverty in the city. Led by Dr Kit Colliver from the School for Business and Society, the project will look at how modern opportunity and inequality are shaped by the ownership of land, property and community assets.

Working in collaboration with JRF and York social enterprises like the Good Organisation, researchers will conduct walking interviews with residents, map land ownership data and use archival research to show how wealth distribution shapes daily life across the city. The findings aim to support national policy discussions by providing a broader understanding of how local assets impact communities.

Affordable homes

Focusing on the region's high housing costs, the second project, named “Construction Impossible” will investigate how to better support community-led housing projects that offer secure, sustainable and affordable homes.

Led by Professor Nicholas Pleace from the School for Business and Society, the team will work directly with local housing groups including YorSpace and YoCo. These local groups will determine the focus of the research to find practical solutions that help community-led developments succeed.

Young people

The final initiative launches a new phase of the York and North Yorkshire Policy Engagement and Research Network (YNY-PERN). Led by Dr Rebecca Kerr from the School for Business and Society, the project links university experts directly with the City of York Council, North Yorkshire Council and the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority (YNYCA).

In partnership with the York Policy Engine, the project will support a dedicated Policy Fellow to provide coordination, network management and research capacity. The network will  launch three local studies looking at reducing barriers for young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), how poverty and cost of living pressures are experienced across different places and groups in the region, and explore how local regeneration can best drive economic growth and help build inclusive growth principles to support the delivery of the region's Local Growth Plan.

Place-based knowledge

Dr Aniela Wenham, Co-Head of Social Policy in the School for Business and Society at the University of York, said: “Connecting academic research with the immediate priorities of local communities ensures we generate place-based knowledge that delivers a lasting social impact. By co-producing these projects alongside local authorities and grassroots groups, we are ensuring that the people of York and North Yorkshire remain at the heart of regional development.”