Overview

• Black people are almost four times more likely to experience homelessness in England than white people, according to Heriot-Watt University’s analysis of 750,000 records from 2019–22.
• Only about 10% of statutorily homeless Black families secured social housing, compared with 24% of white families, highlighting stark allocation disparities.
• Black households face overcrowding at six times the rate of white households, while Pakistani and Bangladeshi families endure more than seven times the overcrowding.
• Focus groups reveal that many minoritized applicants feel compelled to change names, accents and appearance to avoid racist remarks from council officials and landlords.
• Government ministers have reaffirmed that racism in housing is illegal and pledged £1 billion for homelessness services to support implementation of the study’s recommendations.