Derby perhaps, houses a little home (7)
I believe the answer is:
habitat
'home' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'derby perhaps houses a little' is the wordplay.
'derby perhaps' becomes 'hat' (derby is a kind of hat).
'houses' indicates putting letters inside.
'a little' becomes 'abit' ('a bit' can be a synonym of 'a little'**).
'hat' enclosing 'abit' is 'HABITAT'.
(Other definitions for habitat that I've seen before include "Environment in which groups normally live" , "Surrender" , "Territory" , "Living environment" , "home, naturally" .)