Housing markets and ethnicity

This programme funded projects exploring the housing pathways of new immgirants and the housing aspirations of second generation South Asian and White British women. It also pulled together overarching messages on housing markets and ethnicity with the housing and neighbourhood findings from our Immigration and Inclusion programme.

• Housing is critical to the welfare and integration of new migrants. Most migrants live in the private rented sector with many enduring poor or insecure accommodation. Policy has not responded to these poor conditions and their wider impact on neighbourhoods. It has in fact shifted away from a 'neighbourhood' focus in community cohesion work.
• New immigrants tended to fill voids in the housing stock left behind or avoided by other households. The result was the concentration of new immigrants in particular sectors of the local housing market and in specific neighbourhoods. However new immigrants did not live in isolated ethnic clusters and their residential settlement patterns were rarely the outcome of self-segregating tendencies.
• Housing choices and aspirations can change over time. Second generation South Asian women's housing aspirations differed from their mother's generation and were not determined by cultural, ethnic and religious factors, although for many their choice of neighbourhood was influenced by a desire to break away from 'traditional' norms and ethnically concentrated areas.
• A sense of (non-ethnic) community was important to women but was hard to attain. Women were in favour of an ethnic mix and wanted neighbourhoods that had the feel of a village but were located close to city centres. As parents, they chose safer suburban but 'soulless' neighbourhoods lacking in amenities, rather than deprived neighbourhoods with a strong sense of community.
• Although not all housing aspirations can be achieved in one place, owner occupation (not shared ownership) was seen to be the most viable means to achieve aspirations when compared against other tenures. Both south Asian and white British women accessed owner occupation via a number of similar routes, including borrowing money from families and by-passing estate agents where possible.

Key links

For specific nationality reports from New immigrants housing pathways:

• The Housing Pathways of Polish New Immigrants in Sheffield (PDF 111KB). Written by Tamara Gryszel-Fieldsned and Kesia Reeve.
• The Housing Pathways of Liberian New Immigrants in Sheffield (PDF 107KB). Written by Akoi Bazzi, Rionach Casey and Prince Taylor.
• The Housing Pathways of Pakistani New Immigrants in Sheffield (PDF 107KB). Written by David Robinson and Aisha Siddiqah.
• The Housing Pathways of Somali New Immigrants in Sheffield (PDF 108KB). Written by Hassan Aden, Kaltum Osman Rivers and David Robinson.

Key questions

• What are the similarities and differences in the housing aspirations and choices of different ethnic groups?
• What opportunities exist for different ethnic groups to fulfil their housing aspirations?
• What are the barriers to ethnic groups achieving these aspirations in different housing market areas?