Cost of living briefing six: The disproportionate impact of the cost of living crisis on Black and ethnic minorities

Today we launched the sixth in our series of briefing documents as we address the question: “what is the impact of the cost of living crisis on social housing tenants – and how should the sector respond?”

This briefing is published as the cost of living crisis continues to place huge pressures on people across the UK. Whilst Britain’s inflation fell slightly last month it remains historically high. In the briefing, we examine what this means in practice, summarising the latest research and data available and shining a spotlight on the disproportionate impact on Black and ethnic minority communities - who are 2.5 times more likely than White people to be in relative poverty.

Ahead of the government’s upcoming spring budget, we are urging the government to:

• Restore local housing allowance rates to at least the 30th percentile and return to annual uprating
• Introduce a social tariff for the energy market
• Ban energy companies forcibly switching customers to prepayment meters
• Provide a concerted programme to raise the energy efficiency of existing housing stock and commit additional funding for energy efficiency measures in homes
• Increase investment and grant levels to provide more much needed social homes for rent
• More investment in existing and new supported housing to meet a range of needs.

Further details on our call for action from the government can read in CIH’s submission to the Chancellor’s Spring Budget 2023.

You can read the entire cost of briefings series on the website. To contribute to upcoming briefings please email policyandpractice@cih.org