Housing Black & Minoritised Communities in Bristol:
A Community-led Initiative
Black South West Network’s Policy Team engages with the Housing Sector in numerous ways to improve the conditions of homes for Black & Minoritised communities in Bristol and the wider South West. Through research undertaken in 2020, BSWN captured the current picture of housing needs and aspirations held by Black and Minoritised people in the city of Bristol. With this evidence, several recommendations were proposed to tackle Bristol’s housing emergency that disproportionately affects racialised communities. Using these recommendations, we are deeply involved in numerous community-centred initiatives to address the specific issues faced by Black and Racially Minoritised households.
The research report, Housing BAME Communities in Bristol: A Community-led Initiative, was launched at the Bristol Race & Housing Conference 2020 held by Bristol City Council and SARI on the 18th of November 2020.
Social Housing Drop-Ins for Black and Minoritised Council Tenants with Bristol City Council and Housing Matters
BSWN’s Social Housing Drop-Ins for Black and Minoritised Council Tenants emerged from a need for greater access to technical assistance in the context of housing conditions. Our Social Housing Drop-In services, an ongoing partnership with Bristol City Council’s Housing Teams and Housing Matters, provides Black and Racially Minoritised council tenants with direct, same-day access to Council Officers in the following areas:
The BSWN Social Housing Drop-In Team with Housing Matters and the Southmead Somali Association
HomeChoice
Repairs & Maintenance
Anti-Social Behaviour
Local Housing Officer
Welfare Rights and Money Advice Service (WRAMAS)
Through this programme, we have delivered direct technical assistance to more than 50 council tenants in numerous wards throughout Bristol, including but not limited to Lockleaze, St Paul’s, Barton Hill, Easton, and Southmead. We work with local Community Centres and Community Organisations to provide crucial assistance to Council Tenants in their area and networks.
Our partners
Who have we work with so far?
If your organisation is interested in hosting a Social Housing Drop-In session in your local area, or you want to know more about the drop-ins, please contact Jeff Monzon (japheth@bswn.org.uk).
Housing Rights Awareness Campaign with Shelter Bristol
BSWN’s Report on Housing for Black and Racialised Communities in Bristol highlighted a strong willingness to stand up for housing rights. In response, BSWN partnered with Shelter Bristol to launch a campaign empowering Black and Racially Minoritised communities with the knowledge and confidence to advocate for their legal housing rights through resources, workshops, and campaign training.
This ongoing initiative, launched in 2023, consists of four phases aimed at building a sustainable, independent Housing Rights Campaign in Bristol.
Phase 1
Phase 1 of the Housing Rights Awareness Campaign with Shelter Bristol focused on understanding the perspectives of community organisations serving Black and Racially Minoritised communities. Using a ‘Train the Trainer’ model, BSWN and Shelter Bristol delivered five workshops to equip civil society organisations with essential housing rights knowledge, enabling them to better support their service users.
This phase of the project was composed of four overarching topics:
Private Rented Sector
Social Housing
Homelessness and Risk of Homelessness
Housing Conditions
In total, Phase 1 engaged over 19 civil society organisations in and around Bristol, providing BSWN and Shelter Bristol with valuable insights into the primary housing challenges faced by diverse communities.
Phase 2
The primary objective of Phase 2 of the Housing Rights Awareness Campaign is to meet communities where they are by co-producing housing materials and workshops that address the housing needs specific to the Black and Racially minoritised communities of Bristol.
The Campaign held several information gathering sessions with the following organisations: Borderlands, TALO Community CIC, Bristol Women’s Voice, Bristol Somali Resource Centre, and Bristol Horn Youth Concern.
Together with Shelter Bristol, BSWN consulted both individual community members as well as community workers on the issues most important to them that they would like to become more knowledgeable about. From these sessions, key housing issues were identified through co-producing with the community:
Right to Repairs and a Safe & Healthy Home
Right to Quiet Enjoyment
Right to Protection from Illegal Eviction
Right to Challenge Unfair Rent Increases
Social Housing and Final Offers
Based on these issues, BSWN and Shelter Bristol then created translated materials (posters, flyers, and videos) that will be used to disseminate key information on the housing rights of citizens. These translated materials were then tested and co-designed with community members at the St Paul’s Learning Centre. Members from the Kurdish-Sorani, Somali, Arabic, Polish, Pashto, and Punjabi communities took part in this innovative approach towards rights awareness raising.
Phase 2 will finish with a series of workshops, coffee drop-ins, and virtual campaigns that aim to strengthen the communities’ awareness of their housing and legal rights, raise their confidence in advocating for themselves, and forming an informal network of individuals interested in advocating for housing rights.
The Future: Phases 3 and 4
Throughout Phase 1 and Phase 2, BSWN and Shelter Bristol have been identifying key individuals who have expressed considerable interest in advocating for the housing rights of their communities. Phase 3 will focus on training these individuals into becoming ‘Housing Rights Champions’ for their communities, becoming a centralised Point of Contact for their local area’s communities with the support of BSWN and Shelter Bristol.
Phase 4 intends to consolidate all three Phases (civil society organisations, communities, and individual Champions) into a Housing Rights Coalition that will autonomously advocate for community housing rights independently from BSWN and Shelter Bristol.
If you want to know more about our housing rights programme, please contact Jeff Monzon (japheth@bswn.org.uk)
The Bristol Living Rent Commission
BSWN has been directly contributing to the Bristol Living Rent Commission. The Bristol Living Rent Commission was created in 2022 to investigate how to make Bristol a “living rent city”. The report is an investigation into the private rental sector in Bristol and the possibilities of rent control measures. The report concluded with 29 recommendations including engaging the government on a national rent control system and devolved powers to the city-level to control rents. BSWN contributed written evidence on ethnic disparities within the private rental sector, uncovering that 69% of Minoritised respondents were more likely than other respondents to have experienced rent increases.
BSWN continues to support the Commission’s recommendations on property regulation and local rent control measures in tandem with other national policies such as increasing the social housing stock. As part of our ongoing commitment, BSWN has been an active member of the Bristol Living Rent Commission Finishing Task Group.
If you want to know more about our work with the Living Rent Commission, please contact Jeff Monzon (japheth@bswn.org.uk)
Non-Policing Solutions to Homelessness in Bristol
Black and Minoritised people are three to five times more likely to face discrimination in the process of looking for a home. As such, homelessness amongst racialised groups is more likely to be experienced than those racialised as White. To help reduce homelessness and to tackle its systemic causes, BSWN has conducted research with The Runnymede Trust and the Mwanzo Project to help understand non-policing solutions to homelessness in Bristol. The key findings of this research are:
The Police’s approach towards homeless individuals does not protect them, aiming to relocate them as opposed to solving the root cause of homelessness experienced by the individual.
There is a systemic lack of compassion in society: hostile architecture, poor healthcare follow-ups, and general public indifference.
Gentrification is a major cause of homelessness as Black communities are being priced out of historically African-Caribbean neighbourhoods.
An overinvestment in student housing and commercial properties over affordable housing is a major driver of homelessness.
With Black and Racially Minoritised communities three times more likely to rent than White communities, they are disproportionately impacted by rising cost of rent.
Alongside this, our research uncovered potential non-policing solutions to homelessness, such as:
Housing First Schemes – The provision of permanent housing with wraparound support that prioritises autonomy over emergency shelters
Investments in Community Hubs – These spaces offer administrative support, hot meals, and services for those experiencing homelessness or are at risk of homelessness.
If you want to know more about this report, please contact Jeff Monzon (japheth@bswn.org.uk)
For more information on BSWN’s housing work more broadly, please email our Policy and Development Manager, Angelique Retief, angelique@bswn.org.uk.
Need Help with Your Housing Problems?
BSWN works closely with local authorities and housing advice service providers to deliver accessible housing support for Black and Racially Minoritised Communities.
Shelter Bristol
Website: https://england.shelter.org.uk/get_help/local_services/bristol
Phone Number: 0808 800 4444
Address: Brunswick Square, St Paul’s, Bristol, BS2 8PE
Need help sending a letter to the council or landlord? Shelter provides letter templates to help you get started: https://england.shelter.org.uk/housing_advice/downloads_and_tools/template_letters
Bristol Law Centre
Website: https://www.bristollawcentre.org.uk/get-help/housing/
Phone Number: 0117 924 8662
Address: 2 Hide Market, West St, BS2 0BH
Housing Matters
Website: https://housingmatters.org.uk/
Phone Number: 0117 935 1260
Bristol City Council