Claude Hendrickson MBE is a pioneering community-led housing advocate and climate justice leader based in Leeds, West Yorkshire. With nearly 30 years of grassroots community activism, Claude has been at the forefront of empowering communities to shape local change and address the intersecting challenges of housing inequality, unemployment, and climate justice.
Claude leads work on climate justice at Climate Action Leeds, ensuring that principles of equity and lived experience are embedded across the organisation’s climate action programmes. He is also Widening Participation (EDI) Lead at People Powered Homes, where he works to remove barriers to participation and ensure that marginalised communities have a meaningful voice in community-led housing and climate initiatives.
A Community Land Trust ambassador and accredited community-led housing adviser, Claude’s work is rooted in practical, people-powered solutions. One of his most influential projects involved organising 13 young men to self-build a street of 12 homes, laying tens of thousands of bricks and blocks while gaining accredited construction skills. The project became a powerful demonstration of how community-led housing can create affordable homes, build skills, and open pathways into employment while strengthening local ownership and pride.
Claude is an EDI trainer on the Confederation of Co-operative Housing’s Four Million Homes programme, and a community engagement lead across multiple housing and climate initiatives. He is also a Community Champion for the national We’re Right Here network and part of the Same Skies network in West Yorkshire.
Throughout his career, Claude has been committed to challenging systemic racism, widening participation, and sharing good practice from decades of grassroots work. His vision centres on communities building their own homes, skills, and futures—creating fairer, climate-resilient neighbourhoods led by those who live in them.