Housing Minister Caroline Flint launched a new guide Tuesday showing how housing and regeneration professionals can successfully reach Muslim communities – who can often be more marginalised, socially excluded and poorer than other groups – and improve their participation and acceptance in the wider community. There are over 1.6 million Muslims in the UK, the largest minority faith group in the country, and statistics show that they more likely to be unemployed – 13 percent of Muslim men are unemployed as opposed to the national average of 5 percent – less likely to be owner occupiers and more likely to live in poor housing and in overcrowded conditions. The new Guide to Engaging Muslim Communities from the Chartered Institute of Housing and Matrix Housing Partnership, published on June 17, demonstrates successful work in engaging diverse Muslim communities in housing and regeneration, including women and young people, who can be particularly hard to reach. Many of the examples show how important it can be to help isolated communities build their self-confidence. All the examples show the need for professionals to avoid being insensitive about faith issues and to have a basic knowledge of how a faith such as Islam governs people’s daily lives.http://themuslimweekly.com/newsdetails/fullstoryview.aspx?NewsID=285B864FC440671C08CAD8D8&MENUID=HOMENEWS&DESCRIPTION=UK%20News
