Guli Frances-Dehqhani: The bishop tackling England s housing crisis
By Brian Wheeler
image sourceChurch of England
image captionGuli Frances-Dehqhani is the first women from an ethnic minority to become an Anglican bishop
Housing the poor and destitute used to be what the Church of England was all about, but in recent years it has arguably become better known for selling off land to the highest bidder.
The Bishop of Chelmsford, Guli Frances-Dehqhani, is determined to do something about that.
As England s first Bishop for Housing, she is spearheading efforts to build affordable homes on church land and campaigning for long-term solutions to what Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby believes is one of the biggest crises facing the country.
By Elizabeth Hopkirk2021-02-19T05:00:00+00:00
Guli Francis-Dehqani, the first bishop for housing, takes up her post in April. With the Church of England publishing a detailed report into the housing crisis this weekend, she tells Elizabeth Hopkirk why the role is much more than a token one – and how she believes she can make a real difference
Bishop Guli was announced as bishop-designate of Chelmsford in December, replacing Stephen Cottrell who is now archbishop of York
“Housing is an issue of justice, which Jesus cares about intimately.” With these words Justin Welby, the archbishop of Canterbury, announced at an industry conference last month that he was appointing a bishop for housing. The news was greeted with surprise and curiosity, welcomed by some, dismissed as an irrelevance by others. What was the leader of the Anglican Communion doing addressing a housing conference? And what can the third estate achieve where the first and second have so singularly failed?
Bishop of Loughborough nominated for Chelmsford
Nomination brings number of BAME diocesans to one Diocese of Leicester
Dr Guli Francis-Dehqani
She succeeds the Most Revd Stephen Cottrell, who was confirmed as Archbishop of York in July after his nomination exactly a year ago (News, 10 July; 20 December 2019), and would become the C of E’s only serving BAME diocesan bishop. (The Bishop of Dover, the Rt Revd Rose Hudson-Wilkin, functions in many ways as a diocesan, although she is a suffragan to the Archbishop of Canterbury.)
Dr Francis-Dehqani said this week: “It is a great privilege to be appointed as the next Bishop of Chelmsford. I know there are many challenges ahead both in the Church and wider society, not least as a result of the pandemic. However, I am hopeful about the future.”