Black people in England four times as likely to face homelessness, study finds

‘Inequality remains hardwired into our housing system,’ Shelter’s director of campaigns said. Photograph: Jeff J Mitchell/Getty Images

Black people in England are almost four times as likely to face homelessness as white people and substantially less likely to get social housing, according to the first major study into homelessness and racism in more than two decades.

A three-year research project by academics at Heriot-Watt University found that ethnicity affects a person’s risk of homelessness, even when controlling for factors such as geography, poverty and home ownership rates.