Ouresearch latest research, in partnership with the media and education organisation for young people, Naked Politics, has found that young minority ethnic private renters are being priced out of the communities they grew up in.
The report found that minority ethnic renters under 30 were 18% more likely than white British and Irish respondents to have moved away from the area that they grew up in.
As well as this, minority ethnic respondents who had moved out of the area they grew up in were over twice as likely as white British respondents to have moved because the area they grew up in was too expensive.
Meanwhile, minority ethnic renters who had remained in the area they grew up in were half as likely as white British and Irish respondents to have remained locally because it was affordable, suggesting that these communities are struggling more to afford to continue to live in the areas they grew up in.
Overall, 46% of young minority ethnic people had struggled to find somewhere affordable to rent close enough to their work, with this rising to 52% amongst minority ethnic women.
145 people, between the ages of 18 and 29, who had experienced private renting – be it whilst growing up in a private rented home or independently as an adult – took part in the survey. 118 participants had been a private renter as an adult and 72 individuals had grown up in a privately rented home.

Analysis of Census data, also included in the research, found that 27% of white households with adult children are renters (either in private or social homes). However, this rises to 57% of Black households with adult children, 50% for mixed ethnicity households and 48% for ‘other’ ethnicity households. Because many landlords ask tenants to provide a guarantor who owns their own home, minority ethnic young adults are more likely to encounter this additional barrier to finding a private tenancy when they want to live independently.
The report features interviews with young minority ethnic private renters. One renter who identified as Black, Catherine, rejected media narratives that young adults can easily shape their own futures: “Me having a coffee and a cake on a Sunday is not going to give me an extra £20,000 in the next two years. That’s just a misconception… It’s tough to be a young person now. It’s really tough. And those expensive rents and expensive house prices weren’t quite so bad when they had the opportunity to buy.”
What needs to happen?
There is no one-size-fits-all; some young people choose to stay in the area they grew up in, some choose to move away. Some move out to live independently from their family, some choose to stay with them. But many young people, especially ethnic minority young people, are being forced to make these decisions because they cannot afford any other alternative.
This cannot continue. We need a system which offers young people opportunity and prospects, not one which limits and restricts them. The government must urgently slam the brakes on unaffordable rent rises so that everyone is able to find safe, secure and affordable homes within their own communities.
The Renters’ Rights Bill, currently progressing through Parliament, must include:
- Restrictions on unaffordable rent rises
- An introduction of relocation relief for tenants when landlords evict to sell or move in
- An end to the discriminatory Right to Rent policy
As well as this, marginalised and racialised renters also need:
- Greater devolution powers for regional and local authorities so that they can bring about changes needed for their own communities
- Improved benefits support, particularly restoring the link between Local Housing Allowance and rents
- Increased funding for Discretionary Housing Payments
Increased local authorities’ budgets to support regulation and
enforcement - More affordable homes, particularly social homes.
The research was covered in the Independent here.
You can read the full report here.
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