Minorities locked out

Local authorities and housing associations have largely failed to address the housing needs of black and other ethnic minority elderly people, according to University of Warwick research.

The report by the university's centre for research in ethnic relations found that whereas white people had a clear idea of the work of housing associations, and how to contact them, not one of the Sikhs interviewed, for example, knew what a housing association was. The Afro-Caribbeans had a wide knowledge of housing associations but few knew how to actually go about getting accommodation.