Black families facing homelessness were less than half as likely to get access to social housing in England as white families in similar circumstances, according to research said to show “fresh evidence of racism in our housing and support systems”.
While almost a quarter (24%) of white families in the statutory homelessness system ended up in social housing, this was true of only around one in 10 (10%) black families, the three-year research project concluded.
Academics from Heriot-Watt University’s Institute for Social Policy, Housing, Equalities Research, said their findings showed that black people “face dramatically worse outcomes” when it comes to housing support.
Kevin Maxwell, Head of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion at St Mungo’s, said: “This report lays bare the systemic challenges facing global majority communities in accessing what should be a fundamental right for everyone: somewhere to live that is not only safe but affordable too.
“Our frontline teams see a disproportionate number of people from the global majority who are forced to sleep rough. We know that discrimination can be both a cause and a consequence of homelessness. But it doesn’t end when someone is off the streets – it often continues throughout their journey into stable housing, from getting onto the waiting list for social housing to accessing private rented accommodation.
“As a sector and with our partners in local and national government, we need to take the steps to ensure that homelessness is eradicated for good across all communities.”
Researchers analysed 750,000 household records of official English statutory homelessness data, covering 2019/20, 2020/21, and 2021/22 and said their study is the most comprehensive of its kind.
They found that only around 11-12% of most other minority ethnic groups gained access to social housing in the system at this time.
As well as data analysis for social housing, researchers carried out focus groups with people who had direct experience of homelessness who also told of experiences with private landlords.
They heard evidence of people from black and other minority ethnic groups feeling they had to change their names or accents and in some cases even cut their hair to try to avoid discrimination.
The report said: “Strikingly, there was evidence of minoritised people feeling compelled to disguise their ethnic identity and migration status in an attempt to gain fair access to employment, housing and public services.
“This included changing, or hiding, their name, nationality, accent and even aspects of their appearance such as their hair.
“There seemed to be a particular imperative for people to disguise their status as refugees, reflecting the additional and specific forms of discrimination and disadvantage that they faced.”
Other findings from the data analysis reveal “systematic disadvantage throughout the homelessness process”, researchers said.
These included that black families were six times more likely to live in overcrowded conditions than white households, Pakistani and Bangladeshi households faced the highest overcrowding rates at over seven times the white average and 41% of black families left the statutory system to unknown destinations, compared to 28% for white families.
The report’s recommendations include calls to tackle racial inequalities through the upcoming cross-government strategy on homelessness; invest in the professionalisation, training and support of housing and homelessness officers; tackle racism among private landlords; and a rejection of what they call “ethnicity-blind” approaches as well as ensuring there is “robust” monitoring data to identify and address racist assumptions and discriminatory practices.
To access the full report, please visit: Race, Ethnicity and Homelessness in the UK: Final report of a knowledge and capacity building programme – Heriot-Watt Research Portal
