CRER report highlights persistent inequalities and disadvantages that highten BME people’s risk of destitution

A new policy paper published by the Coalition for Racial Equality and Rights calls for specific intervention to relieve and prevent homelessness among people from ethnic minorities to address stark inequalitites among people who are assessed as homeless. The report highlights how inequalitites experiences by different ethnic groups across Scotland contribute to higher rates of homelessness.

CRE’s report examines the homelessness legislation in Scotland, before exploring the most recent Scottish Government data on statutory homelessness applications and assessments by ethnicity. It highlights that BME people are disproportionately represented within the Scottish homelessness statistics. CRER recommends the breakdown of homelessness statistics by immigration status and for full disaggregation by
ethnicity.

The report highlights that the factors that contribute to BME groups experiencing homelessness are varied. An array of issues with housing lead BME people to be more likely toexperience poverty, which is a common cause of homelessness. The report highlights that there is an urgent need for reliable and up to date evidence on these causes of homelessness for BME people and on the experiences of homelessness within
minority ethnic groups.

CRER highlight that racial disparities in housing have existed for decades and they are a contributing factor to higher contemporary homelessness rates for BME people in Scotland. The report has made a number of recommendations needed to better understand and tackle this issue. For example, more research into the causes of homelessness amongst BME groups, the collection and availability of disaggregated data, and crucially, better resourcing for support services that have a focus on the causes of homelessness for BME people. Immediate and comprehensive action is needed to tackle the varied and pervasive issue of BME people disproportionately facing homelessness.