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John Perry is a policy advisor at the Chartered Institute of Housing
Housing race inequalities are often caused by government policy
It’s right that housing organisations should be challenged as part of the government’s race disparity audit, but many problems stem from its own policies, says John Perry
The government’s race disparity audit presents some basic facts about ethnic minorities and their position in the housing market but incredibly says almost nothing about why the disparities with white British people occur.
You can find statistics on whether people are stopped and searched by the police, but there is nothing on whether they feel discriminated against by private landlords, despite evidence that ethnic minorities pay higher rents, have poorer conditions and are more likely to be made homeless.
Meanwhile there are a few mentions of ethnic minority groups’ use of benefits and there is no audit of the impact of the social security cuts made by this government and its predecessor, nor of the changes still in the pipeline.
The review seems to completely ignore outside evidence, such as that by the Runnymede Trust which showed how ethnic minority women in particular have suffered heavily from benefit cuts.
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In a single paragraph it’s pointed out that Pakistani and Bangladeshi people are more likely to live in deprived neighbourhoods, but again there is nothing on the evidence of why this is the case, much less on what might be done about it.
It is well established that speaking English is vital to successful integration, and the audit shows that Pakistani and Bangladeshi people have most difficulty in this respect.
But the cuts to English language teaching since 2011 are officially documented, and Louise Casey’s 2016 review of integration called for urgent action, promised by government “in the spring” of this year.
“The government extended Right to Rent to the whole of England in February, despite evidence of discrimination.”
The government says that public services now have “nowhere to hide” but its audit is silent on how ethnic minorities are treated by the Home Office, when arguably this is the department that gives ethnic minorities most concern.
The ‘hostile environment’ it creates for migrants means that – just looking at housing – the sector is expected to make passport checks on housing applicants, to root out ‘rogue landlords’ (which often also means displacing their tenants), to check whether those on waiting lists have a local connection and to collaborate in deporting rough sleepers who aren’t British.
Perhaps the most severe effects result from Right to Rent document checks by landlords.
“If all public services now have nowhere to hide, that applies to the government too.”
As doctors have just warned about the prospect of ID checks in the NHS, there is a high risk of racial profiling, in which busy administrators only ask those who look like migrants to show their passports, possibly discouraging many from seeking help. Yet the government extended Right to Rent to the whole of England in February, despite evidence of just that kind of discrimination, which was even accepted by landlord bodies themselves.
Communities secretary Sajid Javid was one of the first ministers to respond to the audit. He says the Department for Communities and Local Government will publish a new integration strategy and that “where there are injustices, we are doing everything we can to tackle them and reveal them”.
It is right that the government should challenge the housing sector to put its house in order, but it must also address the inequalities caused by its own policies. If all public services now have nowhere to hide, that applies to the government too.
John Perry, senior policy advisor, Chartered Institute of Housing
