Housing Research of Somali Community
Research commissioned by Karin Housing Association has found evidence of housing deprivation so extreme as to be called an emergency among Somalis in north and east London. 158 people told researchers about the conditions in which they live, their efforts to improve them and their difficulties in accessing appropriate advice and advocacy. They talked about the effects on them and their community, especially the youth, and why they believed this had happened. The researchers also interviewed local council officers and discussed the issue with the Equalities and Human Rights Commission because many interviewees spoke of discrimination.
The comparison made with general conditions in these areas of significant housing need do show that levels of housing deprivation within Somali communities in these areas are extremely high and probably unparalleled by other communities. While 85% of Londoners find their current housing satisfactory, only 12% of those in our survey reported this. The way in which this is combined with, and connected to, high levels of unemployment and long term illness and disability, results in the community feeling demoralised, under attack and sometimes helpless.
Less than a third of those interviewed had a home big enough for them and their family (compared, for example, with Tower Hamlets, the most overcrowded borough in England, reporting 13% of families as overcrowded). Many faced quite devastating levels of overcrowding, with six children in a two bedroom flat, none people in three rooms, seven people and one bedroom. One family of 8 including a disabled woman share a two bedroom house, with five beds in one room. The overcrowding is caused by:
· Larger families combined with a failure to recognise this as a need and provide for it in the relevant areas;
· Difficulties faced by households (often headed by women, facing very high levels of illness or disability) in accessing advice and support that might get them the housing they need;
· Families accommodating relatives or friends who have no housing access themselves because of low priority, rules on local connection or eligibility;
· Family reunions, leading to people crowding into existing accommodation.
45% suffer from disrepair. Over a third said that major repairs were needed, and 38% reported damp. Some were without heating or hot water, urgent repairs are not being done, and some suffer significant ill health as a result. A third of interviewees had long term illnesses, and 16% were disabled. Many felt that stresses caused by poor housing conditions, repairs not being made, overcrowding, anxiety of waiting for a house, lack of choice, and uncertainty of temporary housing caused depression and damaged family relationships.
The poor housing is linked to other problems: only 17% of the group were in employment, with people identifying ill health, lack of skills and education and housing as barriers to work. The average personal weekly income was £130 a week. Housing deprivation is also affecting children's education and chances and intergeneration problems risk young people becoming alienated and involved in crime or anti-social behaviour.
The mix of extreme and unacknowledged housing needs with so many other very high levels of deprivation creates a "perfect storm" in which it is very difficult or impossible for individual households to break into the cycles and change their dreadful situations: they are battling on too many fronts simply to survive, and do not have the resources to pursue complex applications or complaints.
Many Somalis believe that they face discrimination in housing allocation and in other crucial areas of life, and this report provides some evidence of discrimination in the housing field. Somalis also believe that they have not been able to make their housing applications properly because of lack of access to language, information, advice and advocacy. A majority of those who went to solicitors, for example, got their problems resolved, which might indicate that if they had access to appropriate services they could deal with some aspects of their needs.
Choice Based Lettings have created particular problems, because many Somali families find it difficult to ensure that they have been given the right priority and even if that is sorted out, to bid well, because of the language and other barriers to access. It is significant that very little appears to be being done to address this.
The mix of long term, seemingly intractable problems with no obvious solutions appearing or being proposed from either within the community or those responsible for community relations and housing poses a very serious challenge. The level at which these problems present, the depth of need involved, the seriousness of the possible long term consequences and the near total failure to recognise them lead us to characterise this as a housing emergency.
There is a sense throughout the area that Somalis are at the bottom of the housing heap which is borne out by this research. Somali presence, however, is rarely registered on most monitoring systems used to identify discrimination.
There is, however, a global shortage of large size accommodation in the social rented sector, so it is likely that even the best support, advocacy and representation would eventually run up against a brick wall of simple shortage of provision. This shortfall in provision can be remedied by lobbying and 'political' pressure on housing providers.
What becomes apparent from this work is that "voice" and "choice" are intimately linked. The lack of voice over many years has meant that the choices offered to many or most Somalis in housing need is essentially minimal. We found that Somalis are:
· not recognised as a community or monitored as such
· not heard in consultations
· not included in decision making
· and so not housed adequately
Karin is leading the Somali Community organisations in London for better and cordinated services for the Somali Community.
Karin is leading the Somali Community organisations in London for better and cordinated services for the Somali Community.
