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More discussion and actions are needed to tackle racism in housing
More discussion is needed to tackle racism in the housing sector, which is why Inside Housing put together a race and housing editorial panel and is launching a Racism and Housing investigation series. Martin Hilditch explains
A year ago, following the murder of George Floyd in the US, organisations across the housing sector voiced statements of solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. At the time we said that warm words needed to be backed up with action and accountability.
We will come back to the sector in a few moments, but in order to drive our own coverage, Inside Housing set up a new race and housing editorial panel. The aim of the panel is to provide us with ideas for stories and research, and to challenge and inform how Inside Housing approaches its work, including the delivery of our Inclusive Futures campaign objectives.
A number of ideas raised by the panel have already appeared in these pages, and this month we launch a new ongoing investigation of Racism and Housing.
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This brings us back to the sector.
Over the past 11 months we have published interviews with staff who have left the sector, often due to a lack of opportunity to progress. Previous research by Altair found that just 7% of board members and 5% of executives in the top 50 associations in England come from Black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds (we will be re-running our own survey this year, at the panel’s request).
“What actions are your organisations taking to address racism and disparities faced by minority ethnic residents in your homes and staff working in your associations?”
There has also been challenge on these pages from Baroness Lawrence. She suggested that lack of diversity at the top level is “definitely a problem” for the sector.
Baroness Lawrence also questioned whether landlords that do not publish or collect data on ethnicity pay gaps “really care” about tackling the problem. “I’m not sure they do,” she stated in the interview.
Such a strong challenge from such a high-profile diversity campaigner drew disappointingly little response or discussion from sector leaders.
While there has definitely been some progress – with the National Housing Federation’s equality and diversity data tool worthy of particular mention – there is definitely much more to be done.
It is vital that we have this discussion and push for change.
This month, for example, we take a look at publicly available figures on fuel poverty and damp in the nation’s homes and the disproportionate impact on people from specific ethnic minority groups.
The condition of the sector’s homes has been very much in the public eye in recent months, but how often has the conversation turned to who is most affected? It should be a central part of the discussion in order to make sure there are no gaps in the response.
The panel has many questions for the housing sector, but I’ll leave you with just one: what actions are your organisations taking to address racism and disparities faced by minority ethnic residents in your homes and staff working in your associations? Get in touch to let us know.
Martin Hilditch, editor, Inside Housing
Racism and Housing series
Inside Housing’s Racism and Housing series aims to investigate how race inequality and racism interact with and impact on housing – for tenants, for staff working in housing, and for organisations. It has been launched a year since George Floyd’s murder prompted a huge global wave of Black Lives Matter activism.
We will be publishing monthly investigations that look at racism, race and housing, both in terms of what is going wrong, and what actions that sector is taking to address this.
If you have an idea for a story relating to this campaign, please contact deputy editor (features) Jess McCabe, at jess.mccabe@insidehousing.co.uk.
The stories published so far include:
‘We had to abandon everything’: the story of Chan Kataria and the flight of the Ugandan Asians
Race and the cost of living crisis: the impact on social housing tenants
How to create an inclusive housing association: a conversation with Bal Kang
How Cardiff landlords are tackling under-representation
Why has diversity progress stalled?
How racism impacts homeless people
How planning is failing to address race inequality in housing
Race and allocation: who are the new tenants getting social housing, and is it equitable?
How to increase representation of ethnic minorities in senior roles
How race impacts on people’s likelihood of living in a damp home or experiencing fuel poverty
