Dr Tom Archer BA (Hons), MSc, PhD
Senior Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Fellow
Summary
Tom Archer is a Senior Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Fellow at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. Specialising in housing and community development, his work focuses on the affordability and supply of housing, and the collective ownership of physical assets. Tom has a background in policy and housing delivery, and his work aims to improve policymaking and the use of government and charitable funding. Tom’s recent work has centred on community-led housing, housing for older people, community ownership of assets and alternative housing tenures.
About
Tom has 20 years’ experience in research and policy roles concerning housing and community development. He has worked on frontline housing issues within local authorities and housing associations, advised central government on a range of community-related policies, and led large-scale research projects in the housing field.
Tom's research is inter-disciplinary, focusing on housing affordability, supply and alternative forms of provision and management. He has a keen interest in the role of community organisations in housing development, advising government on funding and policy programmes, and leading major reviews and evaluations in the community-led housing field. Tom has written extensively on the issue of community ownership, co-authoring influential research which informed the development of the UK government’s Community Ownership Fund.
In his doctoral research Tom provided unique insights into the collective ownership of housing in England and Canada, exploring some of the causal processes which affect the development of these initiatives. His recent academic work has centred on the causal connections between collectivised forms of housing provision and their affordability. In addition, Tom has co-authored articles on the private housebuilding industry, revealing important trends in profit making and value extraction from within this sector.
Specialist areas of interest
- Community-led housing
- Housing affordability
- Housing supply
- The UK housebuilding industry
- Community ownership of assets
Teaching
College of Social Sciences and Arts
Ï㽶ÊÓƵ
- Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ
- Social and Economic Ï㽶ÊÓƵ Institute
2023-2026 Evaluation of the Affordable Homes Programme (AHP). Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities (DLUHC).
2022-2023 Exploring a more inclusive model of cohousing. Nuffield Foundation.
2022-2023 The Affordability of Community Led Housing. The Nationwide Foundation.
2019-2031 Social Impact Audit. Man GPM.
2019-2022 Homes in Community Hands Evaluation. Power to Change.
2021 The National Village Halls Survey. Action for Communities in Rural England.
2020 Ï㽶ÊÓƵ into the early construction messages emerging from the Innovative Housing Programme. Welsh Government.
2019-2021 Evaluation and Learning Partner. Nationwide Foundation.
2018-2019 An economic assessment of assets in community ownership. Power to Change.
2018-2019 Older People’s Housing, Care and Support Needs in South Cambridgeshire. Cambridgeshire County Council.
2018-2019 The Future of the CLT Fund. CAF Venturesome.
2018-2019 The Sheffield and Rotherham Strategic Housing Market Assessment. Sheffield City Council and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.
2018 . Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
2017-18 Housing, integration and segregation: A rapid literature review. Department for Communities and Local Government.
Publications
Journal articles
Archer, T., & Parr, S. (2024). . People, Place and Policy, 18 (2), 104-114.
Archer, T., & Cole, I. (2021). . Journal of Housing and the Built Environment, 36, 1367-1387.
Archer, T. (2020). . Housing Studies, 37 (3).
Bennett, E., Langmead, K., & Archer, T. (n.d.). Editorial: Special issue – Austere relations: The changing relationship between the Third Sector, the State and the Market in an era of austerity. People, Place and Policy Online, 9 (2), 100-102.
Archer, T., & Cole, I. (n.d.). Still not plannable? Housing supply and the changing structure of the housebuilding industry in the UK in 'austere' times. People, Place and Policy Online, 8 (2), 97-112.
Book chapters
Archer, T., Catherine, H., & Stephen Hill, (2020). Messy is Good! Origins and Evolution of the CLT Movement in England. In On Common Ground International Perspectives on the Community Land Trust. (First). Terra Nostra Press
Reports
Archer, T., & Wilson, I. (2023). . Sheffield: Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/the-affordability-of-community-led-homes-research-summary
Archer, T. (2023). . Sheffield: Centre for Regional, Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/the-affordability-of-community-led-homes-case-study
Arbell, Y., & Archer, T. (2023). . Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/housing-21-a-more-inclusive-model-of-cohousing
Archer, T., & Cole, I. (2023). . Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ.
Archer, T. (2023). . Power to change. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/lessons-in-community-led-housing-1
Archer, T., Arbell, Y., Moore, T., Mullins, D., & Rafalowicz-Campbell, M. (2022). . Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/homes-in-community-hands-year-three-evaluation-report
Moore, T., Archer, T., & Mullins, D. (2021). . Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/how-to-enable-community-led-housing-learning-brief-1---enabling-and-catalysing
Archer, T., Moore, T., & Mullins, D. (2021). . Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/how-to-enable-community-led-housing-learning-brief-2---enabling-and-catalysing
Archer, T., & Mccarthy, L. (2021). . Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/community-led-housing-and-the-speed-of-development-briefing-note
Archer, T., Moore, T., Mullins, D., & Arbell, Y. (2021). . Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/homes-in-community-hands-year-two-evaluation-report
Archer, T., & Skropke, C. (2021). . Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/the-impact-of-covid19-on-village--and-community-halls-in-england-findings-report
Ambrose, A., Archer, T., & Bimpson, E. (2020). . Welsh Government. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/research-to-identify-early-lessons-emerging-from-the-innovative-housing-programme-summary
Ambrose, A., Archer, T., & Bimpson, E. (2020). . Welsh Government. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/research-to-identify-early-lessons-emerging-from-the-innovative-housing-programme
Archer, T., Moore, T., & Mullins, D. (2020). . Power to Change. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/homes-in-community-hands-baseline-evaluation-report
Archer, T., Parkes, S., & Speake, B. (2020). . Sheffield: Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/the-english-village-and-community-hall-survey-2020
Archer, T., Wilson, I., Parkes, S., Batty, E., & Harris, C. (2019). . Power to Change. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/our-assets-our-future-the-economics-outcomes-and-sustainability-of-assets-in-community-ownership
Archer, T., Crisp, R., Ferrari, E., Green, S., Mccarthy, L., Moore, T., ... Sacranie, H. (2019). . Joseph Rowntree Foundation. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/scaling-up-social-lettings-scope-impact-and-barriers
Archer, T., Green, S., & Fisher, C. (2019). . CAF Venturesome. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/helping-communities-build-a-review-of-the-community-land-trust-funds-and-lessons-for-future-support
Moore, T., Mullins, D., He, B., Thompson, M., Claassen, C., & Archer, T. (2018). . The National Community Land Trust Network. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/the-urban-clt-project-evaluation
Archer, T., Green, S., & Wilson, I. (2018). Effective housing for people on low incomes in the Welsh Valleys. Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
Archer, T., & Stevens, M. (2018). . Sheffield: Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/housing-integration-and-segregation-a-rapid-literature-review
Archer, T., Green, S., Leather, D., Mccarthy, L., Wilson, I., Robinson, D., & Tait, M. (2018). . Sheffield: Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/older-peoples-housing-care-and-support-needs-in-greater-cambridge-2017-2036
Archer, T., & Cole, I. (2016). . Ï㽶ÊÓƵ, Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ. /centre-regional-economic-social-research/publications/profits-before-volume-major-housebuilders-and-the-crisis-of-housing-supply
Theses / Dissertations
Skropke, C. (2023). . (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Archer, T., Ferrari, E., & Wilson, I.
Archer, T. (2016). . (Doctoral thesis). Supervised by Robinson, D.
Postgraduate supervision
Tom supervises PhDs on a broad range of housing and property related issues, including community-led approaches to housing and regeneration and community ownership of assets. He currently supervises Rowan MacKay’s PhD ‘Relationships for change: Leveraging collective agency in the production of housing in London’.
Media
Tom is a researcher at the Centre for Regional Economic and Social Ï㽶ÊÓƵ (CRESR). He is a specialist in housing affordability, supply and collective ownership of assets. He is a respected author on UK housing issues and the community and voluntary sector.