The following article was originally published in the Discrimination Law Association’s March 2025, Briefings, Volume 84, 1113-1126. The full volume can be found here.
Generation Rent research has uncovered a market which imposes barriers to minority ethnic people’s acquisition of safe and secure homes at every stage of private renting – from looking for a new home, to living in a tenancy, facing eviction and navigating homelessness support.
A clear picture has emerged. At every step, minority ethnic people are being disproportionately subjected to structural discrimination and racism – trapping many into a vicious cycle, cut off from safe and secure homes, with depleting financial resilience and physical or mental wellbeing.
Stage 1: Finding a new affordable home to rent
Discrimination and structural obstacles to new tenancies make it especially difficult for minority ethnic renters to access safe and secure homes.
Difficulties affording the rent
Private renting is the least affordable tenure. The 2022/23 English Housing Survey revealed that 29% of private renters found it difficult to pay the rent, compared to 27% of social tenants and 11% of homeowners in paying their mortgage.
The average mortgage payment was £222 per week and social rents were £118, compared with £237 per week in private rents. When housing support and a partner’s joint income were taken into account, mortgagors spent an average of 20% of their income on mortgage payments, whereas rent payments were 29% of income for social renters and 39% for private renters.
Minority ethnic people also disproportionately rent privately. In 2021/22, nearly a quarter of private rented households (23%) had an ethnic minority household reference person, compared to 19% of social renters, and 8% of owner occupiers.
On average, minority ethnic people earn lower incomes and are disproportionately affected by wealth inequality and poverty. Between 2016 and 2019, for example, white British households received an average income of £518 per week; Black African, Black British, and Black Caribbean households had an average of £408; Bangladeshi households £365 and Pakistani households £334. According to the ONS, between 2016 and 2018, 55% of Bangladeshi, 47% of Pakistani, 40% of Black, 32% of Mixed and 28% of Asian households were living in poverty after housing costs were accounted for.
Overall, minority ethnic renters struggle the most to pay the rent. Generation Rent polling conducted in June 2024 with 1,016 private renters found that minority ethnic private renters were especially likely to be struggling with expensive rents in their current home; over half (53%) reported this, compared to 44% of white respondents. This figure rose to 60% of Asian respondents.
Generation Rent’s report End Renting Inequality 2023 found that minority ethnic renters were especially struggling with an unaffordable rental market and increasing costs in living. While minority ethnic and white British or Irish respondents were similarly likely to report an increased difficulty in paying the rent in the last six months, minority ethnic respondents were 54% more likely to report that it was ‘a lot’ more difficult than white British or Irish renters.
The same research found that minority ethnic respondents were also subjected to higher rent rises, increasing £131 per month on average compared to £87 for white British and Irish respondents, in the six months before taking the survey.
Generation Rent’s 2024 report on ending the mental health crisis in private housing found that 60.1% of minority ethnic renters had at some point been subjected to an unfair rent increase, compared to 48.8% of white renters.
Generation Rent general survey data, taken between November 2022 and October 2024, reveals that minority ethnic renters are also more often asked by their landlords to pay a higher rent than their white counterparts, and that this is becoming increasingly common. In November 2022, 49% of minority ethnic renters were asked to pay a higher rent. In October 2024, this figure had risen to 64% (compared to white renters, at 46% and 60% respectively).
Graph 1: Private renters who have been asked by their landlord or letting agent to pay a higher rent in the past 12 months
While only about half (52%) of private renters in England had any savings in 2023/24, minority ethnic people have lower financial resilience on average. According to 2023 research by the Money and Pensions Service, 26% of Asian people could not afford an unexpected bill of £300, meanwhile 32% of ‘other’ ethnicities, 37% of Black people and 41% of mixed-race communities could not afford this expense, compared to 25% of white people.
In 2020, The Runnymede Trust found that Indian households had 90–95p for every £1 of White British wealth, Pakistani households around 50p, Black Caribbean around 20p, and Black African and Bangladeshi approximately 10p.
Additional barriers to privately rented homes
A Generation Rent mystery shopper exercise in 2023 demonstrated the racism which can cut off minority ethnic renters from safe and secure homes. It used AI-generated profile pictures of people seeking to view advertised rental homes; every element of the profiles was the same apart from the profile picture and name, with one showing a black woman called Zuri, and another showing a white woman called Lizzie. After analysing responses for over 200 properties, it found that white profiles were 17% more likely than black profiles to receive a response to a viewing request. White profiles were also 36% more likely to receive a positive response to a renting enquiry.
This set the scene for Generation Rent’s 2024 survey of 1,058 private renters around the UK, which revealed that minority ethnic renters were significantly more likely to face obstacles in accessing new tenancies.
Minority ethnic respondents were almost twice as likely to have been refused a tenancy when they attempted to move home, with 12.5% reporting this experience compared to 6.3% of white British or Irish renters. Minority ethnic renters were also almost twice as likely to have failed a reference check, with 10.2% failing this compared to 5.6% of white British or Irish renters.
Minoritised renters in this group were 27.4% more likely than white British or Irish respondents to have been asked for multiple months of rent upfront to gain access to a new tenancy the last time they had attempted to move.
Minority ethnic people priced out of their own communities
Generation Rent’s Vanishing Communities 2025 reported its research conducted in autumn 2024 with young private renters ages between 18 and 30. This found that minority ethnic renters were 18% more likely than white British and Irish respondents to have moved away from the area in which they grew up.
Of those who had moved out of their former home area, minority ethnic renters were over twice as likely to have moved because this area was too expensive.
As well as this, according to Generation Rent analysis of Census 2021, 27% of white households with non-dependent children, i.e. adults living with parents, are rented (either in private or social homes). However, this rises to 57% for Black households, 50% for mixed ethnicity households and 48% for ‘other’ ethnicity households. This means that not only are the children of renters especially likely to remain living with their parents into adulthood, but minority ethnic adult children are especially likely to do so, suggesting that they are struggling to meet the financial requirements to move away and permanently live independently.
Stage 2: Asserting rights and landlords fulfilling responsibilities in active tenancies
The issues minority ethnic private renters disproportionately face do not end once a new privately rented home is secured but persist across the tenancy.
Lower rates of tenancy and safety documentation
All landlords are legally required to give the following documents to their private tenants: A written tenancy agreement, a gas safety certificate (if there is a gas supply), an electrical safety certificate (if there is an electrical supply), proof of their deposit being protected in an accredited scheme, a government ‘how to rent’ guide, and an energy performance certificate (EPC).
There were significant disparities in minority ethnic renters being given these important tenancy and health and safety documents. In the 2023 research, while every white British or Irish respondent reported that they had received a written tenancy agreement at the start of their tenancy, 94% of minority ethnic respondents reported the same. This figure dropped further to 86% amongst Black respondents.
The ‘how to rent’ guides were the least likely document for respondents to have received; 28% of minority ethnic respondents reported receiving the guide compared to 40% of white British or Irish respondents. Less than one in five (18%) Asian respondents said they had received a ‘how to rent’ guide.
Over three quarters (76%) of white British or Irish respondents received information on where their deposit was protected, compared to 61% of minority ethnic respondents.
Poorer homes and dangerous conditions
Research indicates that minority ethnic communities are more likely to be living in more dangerous homes.
In the ‘end renting inequality’ research, minority ethnic tenants were more than twice as likely to have experienced dangerous disrepair issues and twice as likely to have had faulty electrics in their homes. Minority ethnic respondents were also 50% more likely to report experiencing inadequate fire precautions, with nearly one in four (24%) of Black respondents experiencing this in their current tenancy.
The GR 2024 mental health report also found that 58.1% of minority ethnic renters reported that they had a landlord who refused to carry out repairs, 12% higher than white British or Irish tenants who reported this. This suggests that marginalised groups are not only more likely to experience dangerous maintenance issues but will do so for longer periods of time, or even indefinitely.
Poor and illegal treatment
Generation Rent has found that minority ethnic people are significantly more likely to be subjected to poor and unlawful treatment by landlords and letting agents with this group being 71% more likely than white British or Irish respondents to report being made to feel physically or psychologically unsafe by a landlord or letting agent.
In addition, 58.8% of minority ethnic people had experienced rude behaviour from a landlord or letting agent, which was 18% higher than white British or Irish respondents. 42.6% reported that a landlord or letting agent had shown up at their home unannounced, 8% higher than white British or Irish tenants.
Finally, Generation Rent polling in 2024 found that one in eight Black and Asian renters had experienced racism or discrimination from a landlord or agent, with this rising to around one in six amongst Black people.
Stage 3: Heightened risk of eviction and homelessness
The ending of tenancies, especially against a renter’s wishes, is another stage characterised by discrimination against minority ethnic people.
Utilisation of eviction threats to undermine tenant rights
Generation Rent’s 2022 research, published in the Voice’s article, ‘Are you sure you’re British’, reported that minority ethnic renters were 36% more likely to have been threatened with an eviction than white British and Irish renters.
Alongside higher rates of threats of eviction, minority ethnic people were 38% more likely to have been threatened with an unaffordable rent increase, 18% more likely to have been threatened with an illegal refusal to do repairs and more than twice as likely to have been threatened with court action than white British or Irish respondents.
While some of these are legitimate, legal actions or responses to tenants’ actions, qualitative data from the research found that some landlords and letting agents use such threats to avoid or evade key responsibilities.
For example, Aaron, who identified as Black British, said: ‘Threats, unsociable behaviour, blame and money seem to be the business that landlords and letting agents are in and no one is making them have properties and rooms up to a standard of living and safety before someone rents.’
Meanwhile, Kane, who identified as Asian British, stated: ‘Landlord charged us rent below market value and used this as an excuse to not do any repairs on boiler. Threatened to increase rent.’
Alice, who identified as any other dual heritage background, explained: ‘The landlord said that if I didn’t like something then I should leave. Also, after unsuccessfully trying to evict me the first time he said I could stay if I paid more rent to bring my room in line with the going rent for the area.’
Actual evictions and repeated moves
Generation Rent’s 2024 polling found that minority ethnic renters were especially likely to have experienced repeated moves and shorter tenancies. 52% of ethnic minority renters had moved more than once in the past five years before completing the survey, compared to 32% of white renters. Only 17% of ethnic minority renters had not moved home in the past five years, compared to 39% of white renters.
The same polling also found that minority ethnic renters were more likely to have experienced an eviction in the previous two years. Almost one in 10 (9%) minority ethnic people had been evicted compared to 4% of their white counterparts.
Minority ethnic people are more likely to be evicted informally without due process. Generation Rent’s 2024 mental health report found that they were about twice as likely as white British or Irish respondents to have been served an informal notice (as opposed to a formal s21 or s8 notice under the 1988 Housing Act): 20.3% compared to 10.2%.10
Generation Rent also found that ethnic minority communities are increasingly facing requests to move by their landlords.
Graph 2: Renters who were asked by their landlord to move in the last year (GR GS 22-24).
21% of minority ethnic respondents had been asked to move on by their landlord in the last 12 months before completing the survey in October 2024, this compares to a low of 12% in November 202211. It is important to note that a similar change did not occur with white British and Irish respondents – 13% reported being asked to move on by their landlord in both November 2022 and October 2024.
The November 2022 evictions may be lower across both groups because of a surge during the previous six months following the end of the Covid-19 related eviction ban, which meant a lot of people entering rather than leaving tenancies during these six months.
Generation Rent surveys also show that minority ethnic renters find it especially difficult to find a new home after they have been asked to move, something which has also been growing worse over time.
Graph 3: Renters who were not able to find somewhere to move to after their landlord asked them to leave.
In January 2024, 78% of minority ethnic private renters who had been asked to move by their landlord stated that they had not been able to find somewhere within the notice period. 56% of minority ethnic renters reported the same in June 2022 so the issue has become worse over time. Meanwhile, 61% of white British or Irish respondents reported being unable to find somewhere to move to in January 2024, compared to 69% in June 2022.
Homelessness
The risk of homelessness following eviction is particularly high for ethnic minority private renters given the higher number of evictions they experience and the increased difficulties they face in finding new homes.
The most recent government annual data on homelessness shows that, in the year ending March 2023, 298,430 households qualified for help from their local authority for homelessness – up by 18,960 compared with the previous year. 67.2% of ‘lead applicants’ (people making homeless applications on behalf of households) were white. Meanwhile, 10.2% were Black, 6.4% were Asian, 3.2% were from a mixed ethnic background and 3.8% were from the other ethnic group – totalling 23.6% (this compares to 18% of the population of England and Wales being from a minority ethnic background overall).
In England, Black people are more than three times as likely as white people to experience homelessness while people of mixed race are almost twice as likely to be affected by homelessness. Bangladeshi, Black African, Black Other, and Pakistani groups are more than twice as likely as white British people to experience housing disadvantage.
Stage 4: Poorer conditions and treatment in the homelessness system
Experiencing the trauma of homelessness has dramatic and sometimes lifelong consequences for peoples’ physical and mental health and well-being. Minority ethnic communities experience the worst of the system dealing with homelessness.
Higher rates of temporary accommodation living
On March 31, 2024, government figures showed that 117,450 households were in temporary accommodation, an increase of 12.3% from the same period last year.
44.3% of lead applicants in temporary accommodation were Black, Asian, mixed race or identified as a ‘other’ ethnicity, accounting for over 50,000 households. Minority ethnic people are significantly overrepresented in temporary accommodation – with these four ethnicity groups making up just 25% of England’s population overall.
This is especially the case for Black people, who despite making up only 4.2% of England’s population, account for 20.7% of temporary accommodation lead applicants.
Families and households living in temporary accommodation lack any security, with many being forced to move repeatedly at extremely short notice. They often lack basic washing or cooking facilities or any spaces to enjoy privacy or peace. Reliance on temporary accommodation to house England’s spiralling homelessness population is causing undue and disproportionate harm to minority ethnic people.
Hidden homelessness
Hidden homelessness refers to a situation which is not visible either on the streets or in homelessness services or official homelessness statistics. This includes people living in unsuitable, inadequate or overcrowded conditions, or living in concealed or shared households. Minority ethnic communities are especially likely to be living in ‘hidden homelessness’, which by definition means that agencies are less able to offer or provide support.
Understanding Society data research in 2023 found that minoritised ethnic communities were almost five times more likely than white headed households to live in overcrowded accommodation. Pakistani and Bangladeshi-led households were the most likely to be living in what were considered ‘concealed’ households, followed closely by Indian and Black-led households.
Black rough sleepers disproportionately criminalised
Because minority ethnic people are disproportionately over-represented as ‘hidden homeless’, they are disproportionately underrepresented amongst the rough sleeper population.
Only 5% of England’s rough sleeping population identified as Black in 2020, according to government figures, despite this community being three times more likely to experience homelessness than those identifying as white.
However, research conducted by Generation Rent in 2023 found that Black people in England made up 8% of all arrests under the Vagrancy Act 1824 – a 19th century law which criminalises rough sleeping. They are disproportionately targeted by the police with 68%of Black people being more likely than white people to be arrested under the Act.
The Vagrancy Act makes it an offence to sleep rough or beg in England and Wales. Despite the law technically being ‘repealed’ in 2022, commencement rules mean that the Act, which the government have described as ‘outdated’, remains in force until replacement laws are put in place.
Stage 5: The cycle repeats
Racism and discrimination create a vicious cycle which makes it harder for minority ethnic people to find safe homes.
For too many, it is a constant battle, and there is a danger that being forced into the homelessness system once can lead to remaining there indefinitely. If finding an affordable home to rent privately is difficult while still a sitting tenant, it is exponentially so when experiencing homelessness. In addition to the depletion of minority ethnic peoples’ financial resilience described above, there is negative impact of private renting on their physical and mental health
Long-term impact on mental and physical health
There is a strong link between mental and physical health and private renting with minority ethnic people experiencing the most detrimental elements of this link. Generation Rent found that nine in ten private tenants felt that renting had negatively affected their mental health, and four in ten their physical health.
Its research found that people with minoritised ethnic backgrounds were 8% more likely than their white British and Irish counterparts to worry about being evicted and 18% more likely to worry ‘a lot’ when reporting repairs to their landlord or letting agent.
Stress, insecurity, poor conditions, evictions, moves, homelessness, all play a significant role in a person’s mental and physical health. The impact this has on minority ethnic communities should not be understated. As a result, many are trapped into a system where their wellbeing is spiralling downwards, and their mental and psychological resilience is being chipped away.
What needs to happen?
The private renting system is uncompromising, inflexible and, often, unworkable. Those who struggle with or who are unable to meet the high requirements needed to access safe and secure homes, find themselves trapped in a vicious cycle which depletes their financial resilience, their physical wellbeing and their mental fortitude.
Minority ethnic people are especially likely to find renting unaffordable, live in unsuitable or dangerous conditions, face poor or unlawful treatment and be subjected to evictions. Homelessness weighs as a constant threat, and those forced to experience the homelessness system face unique barriers preventing them from escaping it.
Inequality is trapping people in the worst conditions of private renting, with minority ethnic renters experiencing the worst outcomes. This is a cycle which must end.
We need a fairer system which does not punish and victimise marginalised and racialised people but supports them into somewhere safe to call home.
Generation Rent is campaigning to make sure that the Renters’ Rights Bill is as strong as possible and comprehensively improves the lives and rights of all private renters and to make sure that it reaches marginalised and racialised communities. The Bill must include:
- Restrictions on unaffordable rent rises – These would prevent landlords from evicting tenants through economic evictions, by raising the rent purposely beyond what the sitting tenant could afford. They would also prevent rents from rising unsustainably, stopping people from being priced out of their own communities.
- Tenant relocation relief in ‘landlord intention’ evictions – It typically costs renters £2,216 upfront to move home. In evictions where the tenant is not at fault, the final two months’ rent should be waived by landlords so that renters are enabled to cover moving costs.
- An end to the right to rent policy – This policy restricts the number of safe and secure homes available to migrant and ethnic minority peoples and forces many to choose between enduring poor quality and even dangerous living conditions, and homelessness.
In addition, the government must:
- Extend the time limit under the Equality Act – The six months’ time limit to bring a court claim should be extended to two years.
- Increase local authorities’ budgets – This would support regulatory and enforcement functions in local authorities to target criminal and predatory landlords and letting agents.
- Build affordable homes and more social homes – These must be adapted to renters’ needs and built within communities and in places where renters want to live.
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