HOUSING
violence rule’. The problem is explored in more detail in the chapters on care and social services (Chapter 9) and income and benefits (Chapter 12). 7.2 Housing tenure Statistics about tenure, rent levels and income are available from the various housing surveys carried out at national level, but none of these include country of birth, date of arrival or nationality (except the ‘English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, Other’ collected by the English House Condition Survey), and so cannot provide information about migrants. Table 7.1 shows that the percentage of people living in ‘non decent’ homes has fallen, but remains higher among people from those described as ‘ethnic minority households’ and defined as ‘households where the respondent defines their ethnicity as something other than white’ (DCLG, 2007). Table 7.1 2005
Percentage of people living in ‘non decent’ homes, England, 1996–
White households Ethnic minority households
1996 43.1 51.5
2001 33.6 39.9
2003 29.8 35.3
2004 27.9 33.0
2005 26.0 30.6
Source: English House Condition Survey, 2005.
The Census collects data on country of birth but published data in housing reports only relate to ethnicity. Table 7.2 notes higher than average rates of overcrowding among all groups other than White British. Table 7.2 Percentage of people living in overcrowded accommodation, by ethnicity, UK, 2001 1
Ethnicity of HRP All people White British White Irish White Other Asian: Indian Asian: Pakistani Asian: Bangladeshi Black Caribbean Black African Chinese
Occupancy rate -1 or less2 7.0 5.3 10.1 16.9 18.8 25.8 43.8 18.6 42.2 23.8
Source: Census 2001 Notes: (1) HRP: Household Reference Person. (2) The occupancy rating provides a measure of under-occupancy and overcrowding. For example, a value of -1 implies that there is one room too few and that there is overcrowding in the household. (This assumes that every household, including one-person households, requires a minimum of two common rooms, excluding bathroom.)
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