Homes, not harm
The Runnymede Trust’s new Homes, not harm report examines the links between housing, health and wealth in London through the lens of race and ethnicity. It finds a two-tier system, which breaches basic standards of humanity, with racism embedded at its core, write report authors Serena Robinson and Carol Sidney.
Housing is not just about bricks and mortar: it is a prerequisite for health and prosperity. Yet the reality is one of poor housing conditions that underpin a host of social ills, from chronic health problems to educational disadvantage, trapping entire communities in cycles of poverty and ill health.
A housing crisis of staggering scale is now the backdrop to everyday life in London and across the UK, especially for many communities of colour. Rising house prices and declining home ownership continue to take hold. Without secure, decent housing, pathways to both health and wealth are blocked.
Our new report, Homes, not harm, focuses on London’s communities of colour, who have found themselves disproportionately shut out from the promise of stable, healthy homes and the generational wealth that home ownership typically provides, and who have instead been left trapped in an unstable, increasingly overpriced rental sector.
It highlights the three-pronged impact that poor housing can have on a person: on physical health, such as respiratory problems; on mental health, including stress, anxiety and depression; and on financial health, such as the inability to save after facing excessive service charges, rent and bills.
‘The “two-tier” housing system’
Recent research by the UCL Institute of Health Equity add statistical weight to the testimonies we have collected, highlighting that poor housing quality and inequitable access to homes are closely linked to worse health, shortened life expectancy and blocked opportunities for accumulating wealth. This not only widens the racial wealth gap but also inflicts an intergenerational health penalty, compounding disadvantage in ways that policy too often ignores.
This report also draws on Positive Money’s understanding of the ‘two-tier’ housing system. On one side are those who are able to access capital, become homeowners and gain housing security. On the other are those imprisoned by precarious housing: unaffordable rent, insecure tenure and poor conditions.
The current situation of our housing system is a by-product of decades of policies that have amounted to the ‘assetisation’ of the home. For those on the ‘wrong’ tier, housing becomes uncertain and stress inducing, whereas a home, as one participant, Gail, a tenant from Croydon, eloquently put it, should be: ‘[A] place to form [happy] memories. A shelter, a community, your own castle, a place to celebrate, to find your family, a safe haven, a place to sleep, to be creative and [surrounded with] good neighbours. To study emotional development and to learn independence.’
‘Essential foundations of wellbeing and security’
Our report asks: what might it look like to reimagine homes not just as financial assets but as essential foundations of wellbeing and security? And crucially, what changes to policy and practice are needed to equitably and sustainably eliminate the two-tier housing system and address the immediate crises facing tenants across London’s boroughs?
At the start, this project was guided by a common-sense understanding of ‘home’ being indistinguishable from ‘home ownership’. This quickly unravelled through engagement with minoritised communities in Camden, Croydon, Lambeth and Tower Hamlets as it became apparent that, in a system based on huge levels of inequality, home ownership will never become feasible for the majority of households of colour.
After speaking with all of the participants, it is clear that people of colour in the UK are disproportionately affected by the ‘two-tier’ housing system, particularly those living in social or council housing, often enduring the poorest living conditions, which negatively impact both their mental and physical health and hinder their financial stability.
‘A common thread of powerlessnesss’
Across the boroughs, we unearthed a common thread of powerlessness. This continually showed itself in a two-strand manner: structurally and personally. Structurally, it included tenures that are often insecure and unliveable, chronic impoverishment, and racial discrimination by housing associations and local authorities.
On the personal level, all participants lacked a sense of their ability to change their circumstances, having no meaningful or accessible routes to secure better housing. The structural and personal aspects of powerlessness inter-relate and overlap with one another.
The current housing system is deeply flawed. It provides an over-supply of homes for home ownership and private letting and a woefully small supply of genuinely affordable social homes. This inequality locks households of colour out of becoming more financially stable, further entrenching racial disparities.
‘We all deserve access to a stable home’
First and foremost, people of colour require a safe, secure, decent and genuinely affordable home. This would enable good health for all within the household, especially children and others who are most vulnerable.
Too many participants are trapped in shocking and chronically unchanging conditions: damp, cold, overcrowded and unsafe living conditions with a catastrophic impact on mental health. This constant strain strips away energy, hope and the agency needed to fight for change. In this way, the housing system not only denies prosperity: it actively disables the capacity to pursue it.
The bare minimum of an effective housing system is the provision of safe, secure, decent and affordable homes. We all deserve access to a stable home. Profit cannot continue to be prioritised over people.
Until social housing supply is expanded and prioritised, systemic racism in housing services is addressed, and tenants are given enhanced decision-making powers, the two-tier housing system detailed in our report will continue to harm millions of people and reproduce racial injustice, impoverishing us all.
Read the full Homes, not harm: How London’s broken housing system is failing people of colour report at runnymedetrust.org/publications/homes-not-harm
The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the Runnymede Trust.
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