Black people three times as likely to experience homelessness

Shelter has warned ‘deep inequality and systemic racism’ persists in the housing system, after new figures show black people are three times as likely to experience homelessness.

According to the latest set of official figures, black people are disproportionately affected by homelessness with one in 23 black households becoming homeless or threatened with homelessness, versus one in 83 households from all other ethnicities combined.

The government figures also show that 11% of homeless people applying for help are black even though black people make up 3% of households in England.

And a quarter (24%) of people making homelessness applications to local councils are from Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) groups, even though they make up just over a tenth (11%) of all households in England.

‘On the first day of Black History Month, it is vital we address the deep inequality and systemic racism that persists in the housing system and continues to deny thousands a safe home.said Shelter chief executive, Polly Neate.

‘We must act fast, because the pandemic we are now enduring is only intensifying the housing emergency and its destructive inequalities. We know black people are more likely to be homeless or live in overcrowded homes putting them at greater risk from this virus.

‘But right now, the government is failing to prevent homelessness because it’s not doing enough to increase the number of decent, genuinely affordable, social homes. Through social housing, the government has the capacity to provide the sanctuary of a safe home. We can’t allow the legacy of Covid-19 to be one of rising homelessness and shattered lives,’ she added.

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