Unsafe, Insecure:
Barriers to safe housing for Black and minoritised migrant women and their children
written by Katy Swaine Williams
Amongst the most challenging problems faced by the women Hibiscus supports is the difficulty in accessing safe, secure housing that meets their needs and those of their children.
Through conversations with our frontline caseworkers and the women they support, and analysis of our casework data, we set out over the last two years to catalogue what is going wrong and identify solutions. The result is our new evidence report, Unsafe, insecure: barriers to safe housing for Black and minoritised migrant women and their children and accompanying policy briefing.
Our findings reveal that Black and minoritised migrant women and their children are at the sharp end of the nationwide crisis in housing, welfare provision and the cost of living. In addition to the challenges faced by others living on low incomes, the women we support are severely impacted by the ‘hostile environment’ policy which prevents those with insecure immigration status from working, renting, accessing health services and claiming benefits. They are also subject to stigma and racism, and structural barriers including failures to accommodate language difference and restrictions on legal aid. Many of our service users are survivors of domestic abuse, human trafficking and other forms of violence against women and girls. Lack of safe, secure housing hinders their recovery and, in some cases, causes further trauma.
The evidence report and policy briefing we are publishing today (23 October 2024) emphasise the urgent need for gender-informed, trauma-responsive and intersectional approaches to housing provision for migrant women. Over half of the women Hibiscus supported in the community in the last year reported housing insecurity, with those affected nearly twice as likely to suffer from mental health issues.
As ‘Mona’ (not her real name) told us:
“Not having somewhere safe [to live] is slowing my recovery – if you’re constantly experiencing new trauma how can you deal with it as new ones keep coming up?”
It doesn’t have to be this way. We are calling on the UK government and statutory agencies to join the many expert third sector organisations who take a lead in promoting the rights of Black and minoritised migrant women, and supporting these women and their children to flourish as part of a diverse society.
This means that the UK government should end the ‘hostile environment’ policy and support migrant women into education, training and work. Central and local government should invest in decent, self-contained social housing in communities that is accessible to migrant women and their children. All agencies should take a gender-informed, trauma-responsive and intersectional approach to accommodation provision and the application process. And this work must include addressing the links between imprisonment and immigration detention and homelessness, and collecting and publishing disaggregated data to measure progress in improving outcomes.
To find out more, contact us: info@hibiscus.org.uk
Media enquiries: elizabeth@hibiscus.org.uk