Sunday 14th June marked the anniversary of the Grenfell Tower fire in North Kensington, London, which caused 72 deaths and more than 70 injuries. It was the deadliest structural fire in the United Kingdom since the 1988 Piper Alpha disaster and the worst UK residential fire since the Second World War. The government launched an inquiry in June 2017 “to establish the facts of what happened at Grenfell Tower in order to take the necessary action to prevent a similar tragedy from happening again”. This year marks the 3-year anniversary of the fire, and families still have not received any justice. Due to Coronavirus outbreak, the inquiry, now in its second phase, has been suspended in March 2020. In addition, families were not able to come together this year for the annual memorial. Grenfell United, a support group for bereaved and survivors, organised a virtual memorial on Sunday 14th June 2020, which was streamed online with heartfelt messages from family and friends.

There are parallels which can be drawn not only in the government’s slow response to Covid-19 and the tragedy that happened at Grenfell Tower, but in the narrative of institutional inequality. Most people who lost their lives at Grenfell were Black or Asian people and most of the people from ethnic minority backgrounds are disproportionately dying from coronavirus. The tenants of Grenfell had been raising concerns for years to the tower management who had been cutting corners on safety despite a £10 million refurbishment to improve the building’s aesthetic – an improvement that was focused on improving the building for those living around it rather than in it. A report issued last week found that around 2,000 buildings are still covered in flammable cladding, despite the government’s pledge to remove it all by this month. Illustrating the dichotomy between those who get listened to and those who don’t, and the failure of the government to deliver justice for so many.

Why do Black and Asian people still fall so far behind in basic human rights such as housing? This has a lot to do with the fact that many minority households are caught up in a never-ending cycle of poverty with lower wages and poorer living conditions. Windrush, Covid-19 and Grenfell all fit into a narrative of injustice which is part of a much larger issue of systemic inequality – particularly in housing. These events revealed the extent of inequality and illustrate the social divisions so pervasive in Britain.

Race and class dynamics are extremely entrenched in British society, but poverty and race are particularly intersected in a way which reproduces spatial inequalities. A report in 2017 on inequality in Kensington and Chelsea highlighted the close proximity of extreme wealth and poverty in the area around Grenfell Tower, revealing that in some parts of the borough average incomes can drop 10 times as you cross a street. The report notes that one street in Knightsbridge has a 0% health deprivation rating while one block on a council estate two miles away (still within the borough) has a 65% health deprivation rating.

How does Bristol fare in comparison to the national picture?

In Bristol, 45% of children in Hartcliffe are from low income families versus less than 1% of children in most parts of Clifton (bristol.gov.uk). Housing tenure perpetuates inequality since housing equity makes up a large slice of total wealth. Data from the government’s Race Disparity Audit has found that in every region in England except the North East, White British households are more likely to be homeowners than all ethnic minority households combined. While 68 percent of White British households own their own homes, 20 percent of Black households own theirs. In every socio-economic group and region, White British households are less likely to rent privately than those from all ethnic minorities combined.

Closer to home in Bristol, Black people make up 24% of homeless households despite only making up 6% of the total Bristol population (gov.uk). While Black Caribbean households spend the largest percentage of their income on rent compared to all other ethnic groups, White households spend the lowest. In the South West, while White British people are 4 times less likely to be living in overcrowded households (that is, they have fewer bedrooms than needed to avoid undesirable sharing), they are also twice as likely to be under occupying their home (i.e. they have at least 2 more bedrooms than they need). What the Grenfell Tower tragedy has underscored is that social housing has been neglected for too many years and as Black African and Black Caribbean ethnic groups are particularly over-represented in new social housing lettings, again the impacts of the last decade’s obsession with austerity has a disproportionate impact on these communities.

The government’s Right-to-Buy policy, introduced in the 1980s, has depleted social housing and the ‘decanting’ of residents to allow for building demolitions and redevelopment, primarily by private developers, who would sell the new housing in the market has led to the phenomenon of gentrification. The term was first used in 1964 to describe movement of middle-class families into the former working-class neighborhoods. Forcing displaced residents to purchase cheaper social housing on the outskirts of cities.

Three years ago, we thought that the tragedy of Grenfell was a turning point for raising awareness about structural racism, so as the Black Lives Matter campaign is in full swing, we need to realise that raising awareness is not enough. The scale of the impacts of Covid-19 are not yet known but what we do know is that Grenfell and Covid-19 are tragedies of systemic inequality linked to race and class. Investment is urgently needed to rebuild social housing communities blighted by a decade of austerity.

As we seek to address the structural inequalities within the city, understanding the housing needs and aspirations of Black and Asian communities is crucial. The government has indeed taken unprecedented steps to provide support to many of the region’s businesses and residents, but in order to build on this in a way which is truly equitable and addresses the existing socio-economic disparities which are so often underpinned by the legacy of this region’s history, Black and Asian descent people need to have a primary role in the conversation. Already subject to considerable structural disadvantage, this is now compounded by the socio-economic impacts of Covid-19.

Funded by Power to Change and Bristol City Council, BSWN is currently carrying out research exploring the housing needs and aspirations of Black and Asian residents in Bristol and the role of different types of housing in addressing those needs - particularly in initiatives which meaningfully engage communities in the development, management and ownership of housing. We therefore invite Black and Asian Bristol residents to complete our ten-minute survey, BAME Housing Needs and Aspirations.

For any comments or questions regarding this project, please get in touch: policy@bswn.org.uk