Black people in England 'four times as likely to face homelessness'

Black people in England are almost four times as likely to face homelessness as white people and substantially less likely to get social housing, according to the first major study into homelessness and racism in more than two decades.

- Jessica Murray

A three-year research project by academics at Heriot-Watt University found that ethnicity affects a person's risk of homelessness, even when controlling for factors such as geography, poverty and home ownership rates.

They found people resorting to changing their name or accent to try to gain access to housing and other services, and being told by housing officers to be grateful because "you don't have this back in your country".

The report's lead author, Prof Suzanne Fitzpatrick, said: "There are long-term forms of structural disadvantage, rooted in historic racism, which are impacting on risks of homelessness. But the data indicates present-day discrimination is also playing a role. We heard reports of really overt racism from private landlords - refusing to house people because they're black, particularly if they're refugees, or imposing rules or restrictions on them that they don't impose on other tenants."