Committee publication · Report · 15 July 2026 · HC 517

1st Report - Black people’s experiences of homelessness

Government response deadline: 15 September 2026

Summary

The Women and Equalities Committee examines why Black people experience homelessness at nearly four times the rate of white people in England, with worse outcomes throughout the housing system. The report finds structural causes including historical discrimination, specific government policies (Right to Buy, Local Housing Allowance freezes, Right to Rent scheme), and racial bias in private and social housing allocation. It calls for explicit recognition of racial inequality in the government's National Plan to End Homelessness and recommends data collection by race, enhanced legal protections, increased funding for domestic abuse support, and stronger accountability mechanisms in homelessness services.

Key findings

Black people are almost four times as likely to face statutory homelessness as White people, with Black households overrepresented in temporary accommodation—18% have been there over 5 years vs 8% of White-led households
Black-led households are six times more likely to be overcrowded and over three times more likely to experience sofa surfing; structural factors including lower homeownership rates (22-14% vs 70% White British) and higher housing cost burdens explain much of the disparity
Racial discrimination is prevalent in private rental sector, with evidence of explicit racism by landlords; Right to Rent scheme exacerbates discrimination despite no systematic unlawful effects; only 2.7% of private rentals are affordable on housing benefit
Local Housing Allowance has been frozen 8 of last 13 years creating £1,500 average annual shortfall for over 1 million households; current rates make private rental inaccessible for benefit claimants, disproportionately affecting Black households
Black families accessing statutory homelessness system receive worse outcomes: only 10% secured social housing vs 24% White families (2019/22); 41% of Black households exit system to unknown destination vs 28% White, indicating unresolved homelessness

Recommendations

Government's National Plan to End Homelessness should explicitly acknowledge and seek to tackle excess risks of homelessness faced by Black people and embed understanding, transparency and accountability on race at national, regional and local levels
Require government to collect and publish disaggregated data by minimum race/ethnicity and gender on: social housing applications and outcomes; use and duration of temporary accommodation; exits from statutory homelessness
Increase and sustain Local Housing Allowance rates at the 30th percentile of local private rents to prevent homelessness, unlock homes for councils to move families from temporary accommodation, and help break cycles of homelessness
Work with local authorities to equip staff with racially-informed practice and increase decision-making accountability; develop national performance management framework for homelessness assessments monitoring outcomes by race and gender with annual public reporting to Equality and Human Rights Commission
Ensure 'duty to collaborate' under National Plan explicitly links to tackling racial disparities in homelessness and poorer outcomes for racially minoritised groups leaving public services
Urgently review funding for domestic abuse support as current level falls far short of need, particularly for women of Black Caribbean and mixed White/Black backgrounds who experience highest rates
Allocate some rough sleeping funding specifically to frontline organisations working particularly with Black homeless people; include in rough sleeping strategies women who manage homelessness by making themselves less visible
Private Rented Sector Ombudsman should support individuals subject to racial discrimination and escalate multiple complaints about larger providers to Equality and Human Rights Commission
Government should provide and sustain 10% uplift to Equality and Human Rights Commission budget to enable enforcement work on discrimination cases and access to justice support

Tone

Critical

Topics

housing-and-homelessnessracial-discriminationpublic-financesocial-welfareequality-and-rights

Key actors

Sarah Owen, Women and Equalities Committee, Mariam Ayinla, Heriot-Watt University, Shelter, Crisis, Greater Manchester Law Centre, Equality and Human Rights Commission

Notable line

“Black people "are almost four times as likely to face statutory homelessness as White people", "are at the highest risk of statutory homelessness in most regions of England" …”

Key Quotes

“… disproportionate Black homelessness is produced through the interaction of unequal labour market positioning and unequal access to secure housing, whereby vulnerability to income shocks is more likely to translate into eviction and homelessness.”
— Mariam Ayinla · explaining structural drivers of Black homelessness

“Some unscrupulous landlords seemed to feel that they could act with impunity towards tenants from minoritised communities, and in particular to refugees and other migrants, given the difficulties that they may face in defending their housing rights.”
— Heriot-Watt University I-SPHERE Study · documenting explicit racism in private rental sector

“People told us about experiencing racist language from landlords about who could and could not live in their properties, and were sometimes told that certain properties were just for certain ethnic groups—they were explicitly told that.”
— Jasmine Basran, Crisis · reporting findings from Crisis research on discrimination by landlords

“… over a quarter of the private landlords that we spoke to said, "It's natural that stereotypes and prejudice come into it when I decide who to let to." Clearly, that is going to make it harder for black people and people of colour to access homes [ … ]”
— Martha Schofield, Shelter · presenting survey results on landlord attitudes to discrimination

“The lack of Legal Aid providers and capacity available across the country, alongside the difficulty providing explicit evidence of racial discrimination in most cases, limits tenants' ability to enforce their right not to be discriminated against on the basis of their race/ nationality.”
— Greater Manchester Law Centre · explaining barriers to challenging discrimination in private rental sector

“The failure to replace the homes which have been sold under the scheme is a contributor to the urgent and rising need for social and affordable homes in most communities across the country.”
— Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government · government acknowledging impact of Right to Buy on housing stock

“… this is sufficient only to manage existing cost pressures and does not enable us to increase activity or absorb new responsibilities”
— Equality and Human Rights Commission · describing constraints from budget freeze on enforcement work

View original document →

Source · parliament.uk record ↗