BLACK AND MINORITY ETHNIC HOUSING

Black and Minority Ethnic Housing Associations, also called BMEs for short, are at the forefront of housing services for BME communities. 60% of their tenants are from these communities. BMEs gained recognition in the funding arrangements of the Housing Corporation via The Five Year Programme from 1986 to 1991 and An Independent Future from 1991 to March 1996. Currently, the BME strategy of the Housing Corporation is based on their consultation paper Black and Minority Ethnic Housing Needs: An Enabling Framework (published in 1998). There are 140 active BMEs in Britain, 66 of them are registered with the Housing Corporation. BMEs fall into two distinct categories: management-only associations and developing associations. Manningham Housing Association is a developing association Manningham Housing Association (MHA), created in 1986 by the Bangladeshi Youth Organisation, is one of three leading BMEs in the Corporation’s region of Yorkshire and Humberside. MHA is a developing BME, providing culturally-sensitive housing services to BME communities in the Bradford Metropolitan District area. BMEs have a history of successful partnerships with mainstream non-BME housing associations, and financial and strategic support from local authorities.

FACTS ABOUT BMEs BMEs' rent levels are higher than average and a majority of BMEs have very little room to keep rents on new lettings down by cross-subsidising (or rent “pooling”) from older stock. Limited asset base means that BMEs are adversely exposed to changes in interest rate rises, the impact of rent controls by the Housing Corporation and changes in housing benefit. BMEs usually provide larger properties and have higher densities of occupation across the range of property sizes, in comparison to non-BME associations. BMEs are community-oriented, providing specialist services. A very high proportion of their tenants are on benefits, compared to non-BME associations’ tenants. Over a third of registered BMEs experience rental losses above the Housing Corporation’s benchmark. In fact, 40% report increases in rental losses from empty properties and bad debts, and about 50% show growing rent arrears. Partnerships with non-BME associations are necessary, leading in some cases to valuable stock transfers. However, these partnerships do not always achieve the types of development that address the particular objectives of BMEs.

Issues Affecting BME Communities BME communities remain largely disadvantaged in income distribution and the exercise of political and social influence as a result of institutional racism, the collapse of local industries, poor integration into mainstream British society and exclusion from decision-making processes that have a direct influence on their rights and choices.  Housing Management Issues Affecting BMEs BMEs strive to create sustainable communities that are eco-friendly, promoting a healthy ethnic diversity and a balanced social mix in order to avoid racial ghettoes, difficult-to-let and difficult-to-manage housing estates and communities blighted by property decay and social deprivation. Often this is more difficult to achieve for BMEs compared with mainstream housing associations because of the institutional disadvantaged faced by ethnic minorities. BMEs usually champion the necessity to invest in BME communities in a way that makes these communities attractive to outsiders, developing community facilities managed by community groups, training and employment of local residents in community involvement initiatives and empowering them to participate in decision-making processes that directly affect their residential rights and housing choices. BMEs often require far more robust housing management approaches to finding suitable locations for their schemes, and funding scheme layouts and designs that maximise occupancy, enhance the provision of a cost-effective and efficient repairs and maintenance service and strengthen their partnership arrangements with a variety of stakeholders, including the local communities. BMEs of necessity have to engage in constructive partnerships with local social housing agencies and other housing-related stakeholders in order to develop additional and even specialist services.

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Manningham Housing Association, a specialist housing association providing accomodation for large families and diverse minority communities in Bradford and Keighley, West Yorkshire, promotes tenant involvement and regeneration of local communities in addition to providing development of new homes and services to meet the housing and support needs for the community.
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