The UK is becoming an increasingly diverse country, however despite this, it is increasingly clear that persistent and significant ethnic inequalities remain. New research from the Resolution Foundation, introduced at an event titled ‘no place like home?’, highlights the stark reality and data behind these inequalities. The research highlights some salient points, one of these being that even higher-income ethnic minority groups are ‘spending a greater share of their budgets on keeping a roof over their heads compared to White British households’. With a burgeoning and worsening housing crisis, many of our communities are continuing to experience strain and difficulty. However, the risk of an inequality of housing provision, access and quality, mean widening mistrust and a deepening of social tensions. These inequalities do not exist in a vacuum and can often, and do, have wide reaching impacts for social cohesion, community safety and of course, anti-social behaviour.
Housing tenure and Income
Housing tenure, the financial arrangement or rather, the ownership structure of a property, more often than not dictates a large variety of outcomes in this country. This is often exacerbated by the percentage of income that is often spent on housing costs. In order to understand the disparity in housing between groups, the question therefore lies’ in how much more are ethnic minority adults really spending on housing than White British adults?
The research highlights that White British adults live in households that spend on average 11 per cent of their income on housing; in contrast, for Black African, Bangladeshi, and other Black adults this figure is at one fifth and over (21 per cent, 23 per cent and 24 per cent respectively).
The research highlighted that this is not just a reality of lower average incomes, rather than higher housing costs. White British adults were noted as spending an average of 11 per cent, while in a contrasting graph, it was noted that although White British Incomes were on average higher than Arab, Black Caribbean, Black Other and Asian other; all other ethnicities in the report were higher. This, therefore, highlights a significant disparity between income and housing, that reveals that despite earning more on average, ethnic minority households spend more on housing. Of course, disparities between groups, particularly financial, spell out concerns for social cohesion. Despite earning more, these households are spending more and more on housing, leaving less for savings, less for mobility if a crisis emerges, and possess less for discretionary spending.
This could largely be explained away by the difference in tenure between ethnicities, that greatly varies. Owning a home entails lower housing costs to income ration on average, and 41 per cent of White British adults live in a household that owns their home outright, more than any other ethnicity, and over three times the proportion of adults in the Arab (11 per cent), Black African (7 per cent) and Black other groups (6 per cent). By types of rentals, this becomes more lucid. Adults from Black Caribbean backgrounds were found to be nearly three times as likely to live in the social rented sector than White British groups. Tenure, of course, also has an impact on security of housing, which increases elements of stress and increases risk of eviction and temporary accommodation.
The private rented sector is found to be the least stable form of tenure. Of course this has wide reached consequences on other crises. Certainly, not all tenure experiences antisocial behaviour in the same manner. In 2022, a government survey showed that 26 per cent, which is nearly one in three, social housing tenants suffer from antisocial behaviour. A report from 2018 by Nottingham Trent University highlighted that social housing tenants are also 30% more likely to see antisocial behaviour, crime and drug dealing.[1] It is therefore clear that housing, too often, draws along racial and ethnic lines and therefore those who too often experience antisocial behaviour, very often those from minority backgrounds.
Youth and Temporary Accommodation
We have written about the crisis in temporary accommodation before. This crisis particularly on children, who are less likely to go to school, therefore less likely to form positive social connections, less likely to attain a good quality of education and therefore more likely to be involved, or experience, anti-social behaviour.[2] The crisis in temporary accommodation is far reaching, with the government recognising the crisis in children in hotels and bed and breakfasts because of eviction and risk of homelessness. It has reached record levels in the UK, over 120,000 households are now in temporary accommodation. Unfortunately, the research found that Black African, Black Caribbean and Arab backgrounds are heavily over-represented in the homeless population.
We understand how important early prevention is for anti-social behaviour. It is therefore telling then that almost all minority cohorts are younger on average than the White British group. This is not the same for all groups, such as Black Caribbean which stands at 23% along with White British. However, overall, minority groups are often much younger. Children that often are in these households, are also more likely to live in homes with no access to outdoor spaces than White British families. [3]
Housing Discrimination
Unfortunately, housing has historically been a hotbed and continuation for discrimination. This despite much progress, remains to be the case for some of the minority cohort in the research. 1 per cent of White British adult’s report facing racial discrimination in housing access, this is contrasted to up to 9 per cent for Arab households, 7 per cent for Black Caribbean households and 6 per cent for Black African households. This therefore highlights, that choices to live in specific neighbourhoods, can not be solely pointed down as for good reasons. Research highlights that minorities often face tangible barriers when renting, particularly in the private rented sector, due to biases from landlords’ or letting agents’, which is too often rooted in stereotypes. [4]Housing access is one issue, that often limits certain minority backgrounds from living in certain areas, but also discrimination from parts of their community.
The research highlights that Black African and Black other adults are particularly likely to experience racial discrimination in their local areas, shockingly, 26 per cent of Black other experienced discrimination from a neighbour, with Black African, Chinese, Bangladeshi and Arab experiencing 15, 14, 13 per cent respectively. Social cohesion, the feeling of belonging to a community, are greatly impacted by levels of discrimination as painted in this report. If those in ethnic minority groups are experiencing this multitude of difficulty, including greater costs, greater stress, greater discrimination and greater family strain, then it is increasingly difficult to say that social cohesion and the behaviour that stems from its disintegration is not falling.
Concluding thoughts
Disparities and inequalities breed mistrust and threaten to cause break downs in the social fabric that too often holds our communities together. The continuation, and perpetuation through our housing crisis, of these inequalities, therefore, suggests a deep imbalance in who this crisis is affecting, and how. We as always encourage an open dialogue of these issues; this vital research begins to illuminate on some of the barriers preventing us from keeping our communities safe and tranquil.
On this, we are currently working on providing evidence for a consultation on social cohesion, currently for consideration in the Senedd, if you would like to contribute, please contact:
Harrison Box, Policy Officer –
Or, alternatively, complete this survey via: https://www.research.net/r/socialcohesion
The full research can be read here: https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/publications/heritage-and-home/
[1] https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2025-01-08/debates/A640F12A-D0ED-485E-8E66-717E0C9C5B7B/SocialHousingTenantsAntisocialBehaviour#:~:text=In%202022%2C%20a%20Government%20survey,drug%20dealing%20and%20so%20on.
[2] https://www.n8research.org.uk/media/CotN_Attendance_Report_10.pdf
[3] https://www.resolutionfoundation.org/app/uploads/2025/02/Heritage-and-home.pdf p.21
[4] J Elliott, D Baxter & K Rogaly, What’s causing structural racism in housing? , September 2021
https://www.jrf.org.uk/housing/whats-causing-structural-racism-in-housing
