The deadly reality of environmental racism

Many people are now warning that Black, Asian and minority ethnic people are suffering the impacts of something called environmental racism. This can look like communities of colour occupying the least desirable space, characterised by polluted air, built-up estates and a lack of green spaces, all of which are hazardous to their mental and physical health.

“It’s ridiculous that we can’t even open our window, because we live right on top of the Blackwall Tunnel and there’s so much noise and air pollution,” says 18-year-old Tania (not her real name), a Bangladeshi teen who has been living at her housing association flat in Tower Hamlets, east London, since she was 10. Before that, she lived in three other council homes that had mould, broken windows and rodents.

“My biggest frustration,” she says, “is that now they are gentrifying Poplar, doing renovations, making big parks and planting trees, opening allotments – but as they’re doing it, they’re driving poor people of colour away, who can’t afford this area.”

Tania points out a common trend among working-class people living in built-up areas: “We as a family didn’t even have a car until last year, but had to suffer the pollution of other people’s cars.”

Tania is not alone in her experiences. Black, Asian and other minority ethnic people are more likely to dwell in urban neighbourhoods. This cohort earns less, and is therefore further entrenched in a low socio-economic status.

Health inequality

In the US, environmental racism has been extensively studied. ‘Redlining’ – discrimination against residents of areas where people of colour live – has resulted in, for example, ‘fewer trees being planted in urban areas inhabited by Black communities, meaning areas were significantly hotter in summer months (causing heat exposure). But environmental racism exists in the UK too, compounded with housing racism. 

Non-decent homes are a symptom of this problem. While according to this year’s English Housing Survey, social homes are less likely to be non-decent than other tenures, it is a problem that affects all tenures. These difficulties are what Kwajo Tweneboa, a 23-year-old campaigner advocating for social housing tenants, sees every day – particularly among ethnic minorities.

“I mainly see social housing residents living in disrepair, and the main ones tend to be Black or from other minority backgrounds. They are living in absolutely horrific conditions that are akin to slums.

“This is happening across estates, town blocks, high rises and urban areas. There are council homes, maisonettes, tower blocks with no green spaces. Lifts don’t work so disabled people are locked in their homes, repairs take ages and then it breaks again.”

“Income inequality shows that people of colour are more likely to have lower income than white counterparts due to the racial wealth gap in the UK”

Mr Tweneboa has been able to act as an intermediary and sort out some of these problems – but, he says, he is not the one who should be doing it.

“Housing providers need to do their jobs properly. Tenants should be prioritised instead of profits. They should run good-quality, safe and decent homes for tenants.”

People of colour are more likely to live in some of the five million social homes in the UK. In the government’s latest rented social housing data, Black African (44%), mixed white and Black African (41%), and Black Caribbean (40%) households were most likely to rent social housing out of all ethnic groups. In London, white British households were less likely to rent social housing than households from all other ethnic groups combined.

Whatever the tenure they live in, low-income households are more likely to be affected by indoor pollution in some parts of the country. According to a report by University College London (UCL), indoor air pollution is more likely to affect low-income households in London (which is 50% Black, Asian and minority ethnic and has the most renters) due to systemic inequalities, causing stark health inequalities. In the UK, air pollution is one of the biggest environmental threats to human health – with long-term exposure estimated to cause 28,000-36,000 premature deaths a year.

So, imagine what this means for Black, Asian and minority ethnic groups, says Lauren Ferguson, lead author of the UCL report, titled Systemic inequalities in indoor air pollution exposure in London, UK. “Income inequality shows that people of colour are more likely to have lower income than white counterparts due to the racial wealth gap in the UK,” Ms Ferguson says.

They may face unequal outdoor and indoor air pollution as a result, she says, of: 

• Living close to roads with heavy goods vehicle access, leading to higher outdoor concentrations of pollution, which then infiltrate into the building
• Living in smaller dwellings with lower levels of background ventilation, meaning indoor-sourced pollution from activities such as cooking will struggle to dissipate
• Additional ventilation, such as extractor fans, are more likely to remain broken in low-income housing 
• Living in overcrowded homes with longer cooking durations (a 2019 study found that cooking meals on a gas hob raises levels in the kitchen to over three times that of a typical London road)
• Living in areas of dense housing developments 

She explains: “Most of these are outside of the control of low-income populations who largely rent their homes from housing associations and do not have the political power to demand change.” Local authorities and housing associations choose the quality, maintenance and location of where to build homes.

“Cars kill directly but also pollute the air – the well-off tend to drive them through the neighbourhoods of the less well-off when they drive to work in London. The poor sit on a bus”

As Ms Ferguson points out, low economic status is compounded with race, as those with Black, Asian and other ethnic minority backgrounds are more likely to live in urban areas with high levels of pollution.

Social housing, more often than not, tends to be in such built-up areas, explains Professor Danny Dorling from the University of Sheffield.

“Social housing tends to be in cheaper parts of the city, where people don’t really want to live, and traditionally, the poorest housing in Britain has been on the east side, where the wind blew the pollution. That’s been the old pattern, but you can still see echoes of that in various cities now,” he says.