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Housing associations must prioritise their response to racial harassment
Recent incidents of racist harassment experienced by tenants have hit the national news. Tom Murtha considers how the sector should respond
Racism in housing is not new. Housing associations have been trying and failing to deal with it for over 40 years. Further failure has been the subject of two reports in The Guardian recently. One told of the failure of a large housing association to deal with a severe case of racial harassment which led to large fine. The other reported that a number of senior ex-housing figures had written to the National Housing Federation about the sector’s failure to address racial harassment.
That racial harassment is in the news again should not surprise anyone. It has existed in social housing for as long as I can remember. As racism grows in the current political climate, it is no surprise that racial harassment is growing, too. What perhaps is surprising is the failure of a leading housing association to deal with it properly.
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Is this an indication that as housing associations have grown they have lost control of frontline services? There is certainly growing evidence of service failures in other areas, ranging from maintenance issues to failures in dealing with leaseholders, in this and other large housing associations. Or is it just another example that social housing is going backwards on race and racism? That racism and discrimination still exists is clear in senior appointments and it is clear in service delivery. This was the case 40 years ago. It is still the case today.
“As racism grows in the current political climate, it is no surprise that racial harassment is growing, too. What perhaps is surprising is the failure of a leading housing association to deal with it properly”
Many guides to dealing with racial harassment have been written over the years. I have even helped to write some. I have also worked in many areas where it existed. There were times when I worked in Liverpool that the serious nature of some incidents led them to be called racial terrorism by those involved. Many housing associations were once well versed in the methods of dealing with them. They were based upon a few basic principles. Protect at all cost the person being racially harassed either within their home or by moving them to safety elsewhere. And prosecute and if necessary evict the perpetrators.
I recognise that this was not always easy in practice and I do not underestimate the complexities involved. But many housing associations once had a good track record of success. Why were these skills not in existence in this recent case? Have they been lost? Or is the issue not being treated as seriously as it once was? In either case the ultimate responsibility lies in the leadership and culture of these organisations. Such serious failure should be addressed immediately by the board and the senior executives, and by the sector as a whole. We cannot allow people to suffer because of our lack of action.
I hope the regulator, the National Housing Federation, housing association boards and executives have this issue as a number one priority for action in 2021. Racism has no place in social housing. It is our joint failure to address it that allows it to continue to fester and grow when it should have been eradicated years ago.
Tom Murtha, retired housing association chief executive
