White people are 36% more likely to receive a positive response when applying to rent on SpareRoom than black people
White people are 36% more likely to receive a positive response when applying to rent a home than black people, Sky News has learned.
Exclusive figures provided by Generation Rent show apparent racism currently in the rental market.
The campaign organisation used artificial intelligence to set up two fake profiles, a black and a white one, on the rental website SpareRoom. The only differences in their details were their names and skin colour.
Enquiries were sent out by both profiles to property adverts randomly selected across the UK, within minutes of each other, with different responses.
Analysis of more than 210 adverts found that the white facing profile was 36% more likely to receive a positive response than the black facing profile.
The white profile was also 17% more likely than the black profile to receive any response at all.
Generation Rent made applications to the same properties with two AI-generated accounts: One with a white woman and one with a black woman.
In one example the same message was sent by both profiles enquiring about a room in a townhouse.
“Hi there, I’m interested in the property, could I arrange a viewing please?” it read.
The white profile, named Lizzie, received this response: “Hi Lizzie, can you tell me a little about how long you would be looking for the room, do you work local etc. Many Thanks.”
The black profile, called Zuri, received a different message stating simply: “Hello, sorry it’s just been let.”
Paris Williams, 25, has been living in a HMO (house of multiple occupancy) in London for the past two years and describes racism as a barrier to finding somewhere better to rent.
“I’ve had my passport inspected,” she says, “(they asked) ‘is it really a British passport? You can’t be British’, but why can’t I be British?
“And then when you’re going house searching [they] ask ‘do you smoke weed? Because I have black tenants who smoke weed’.
“So you’re stuck. You know that you’ve got bad conditions here but you can’t move.”
Paris says the situation she is living in is “hell”.
Paris believes racism has been a barrier to her finding somewhere better to rent
The policy adviser sleeps with an alarm under her room door because she feels unsafe as the front door to the HMO is often left open by other tenants.
She has previously found a stranger in her hallway and once discovered an unknown man taking a shower in her shared bathroom.
“He was clearly visibly homeless,” she says. “He was wet, he didn’t use a towel, he had no socks on. [He said] ‘well your door was open so i just thought I could’.”
In the last two years she has applied for multiple rentals, even changing her clothes, “stripping back” her makeup, and tying her hair back for viewings.
She says she can afford to rent somewhere better because the feeling of being unsafe in her own home is “gut wrenching”.
“I describe it as fight or flight, you’re never really calm, you’re tense, you’re always waiting for something to happen.
“Every little noise – is that something? is it not?”
Read more from Sky News:
Average rents in Britain hiked 10% over a year
‘Wild west hostile marketplace’
Tilly Smith, campaigns and partnerships officer from Generation Rent, helped carry out the AI profile research after suspecting discrimination in the rental market.
She describes the knock-on effect it is having, in a broader sense, on ethnic minority groups looking for somewhere to live.
“They’ve been forced into this sort of wild west hostile marketplace where they may or may not be able to find a property,” she said.
“So people become very placid and they feel they have to put up with poor quality housing with poor standards, with mould-ridden properties, with disrepair.
“There is the devastating issue of stress and worry of finding somewhere to live.
“There is also the more long-term enduring issue of people who are black, Asian, or minority ethnic who feel they have to put up with terrible conditions.”
In a statement SpareRoom said their “discrimination policy states nobody can discriminate against or reject someone due to their race.
“We look into every single report of discrimination we receive and investigate thoroughly – if we find that racial discrimination has occurred we’ll remove the user permanently.”
While racism in renting is not a new issue it is believed that it may be getting worse due to the low supply of private rentals available verses demand.
Read more: London ‘the only region with unaffordable rent’, says ONS
‘The current crisis will carry on’
Jabeer Butt OBE, chief executive of the Race Equality Foundation, says competition for “a smaller and smaller resource” may be making things worse.
“You can imagine racism is going to be at the forefront of that sort of thing,” he said.
“But then the reality also is that we know what the solutions are, we know what we can do to make it better.
“We know a significant programme of building social housing will change the whole dynamic of the housing crisis that we face…we’re not even managing to build affordable housing to the scale that we’re meant to be doing.
“And until we do that, the current crisis will carry on or potentially get worse.”
UK
‘Is today the day I’ll be diagnosed with cancer?’ Infected blood victim’s life turned upside down
“Every morning I wake up and there is a small part of me that thinks, ‘Is today the day I’m going to be diagnosed with some sort of cancer?'”
This is the question Susan Lee asks herself every day. It is part of the mental anguish of living with Hepatitis C.
Susan was born with Von Willebrand disease.
As a child, her blood clotting disorder was treated with a product called Factor 8. It was supposed to revolutionise treatment for haemophiliacs.
Susan with her father
Instead the American product farmed from prisoners and drug addicts was infected with HIV and Hepatitis. It was never screened or treated before being injected into the veins of patients.
The risks were known. Susan’s father raised concerns.
“I remember specifically on one occasion he went into the consulting room and spoke to my consultant,” says Susan.
“[He] said, ‘I’m very worried about this, and I want you to let me know if Susan has or will receive any American blood products’.
“And he said to my father, ‘Absolutely not’.”
Hepatitis C has had a devasting impact on every part of Susan’s life
However, at 14, Susan discovered she had been infected with Hepatitis C, like thousands of other patients in the worst NHS treatment scandal in history.
Susan believes patients like her were exposed to great risk and potential death to increase profits for the companies that were producing these blood products.
Read more:
Boy, 7, was used in secret trials before HIV infection, parents say
Grant Shapps ‘angry inside’ over infected blood scandal
“I think unfortunately it always comes down to cost implications. And we know that American blood products were cheaper from those big pharmaceutical companies.
“We know there were other treatment options available. There were German products that were out there and could have been used, but at a higher price point, and they were not chosen.”
The Hepatitis C infection has had a devasting impact on every part of Susan’s life. She has had to give up her career as a barrister.
Susan with her mother
“It’s been a really, really difficult time for us as a family. And it’s intergenerational because we were given these products to take home, my parents were taught how to inject. My mother has a huge feeling of guilt surrounding that,” she says.
“Three weeks ago, she sat me down and said, ‘I’m so terribly sorry.’
“I said, ‘You’ve got absolutely nothing to be sorry for. It was nothing to do with you. You did your best’.
“Also my children, from having witnessed the times that I was really, really sick, you know, my daughters asking me, ‘Mummy, why can’t you run in the school races and for sports day?’
“Because I could barely lift my head off the pillow to get out of bed to be there.”
Later this morning, Susan and the thousands of other victims of the infected blood scandal will get answers to the decades-long search for the truth.
Westminster’s Methodist’s Central Hall where Sir Brian Langstaff will deliver his report into the infected blood scandal
At Westminster’s Methodist’s Central Hall just after midday, Sir Brian Langstaff will deliver his report into the infected blood scandal. It is expected to be damning.
Des Collins, senior partner of Collins Solicitors which represents 1,500 victims and their families, said the inquiry chair is likely to hold many people accountable.
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“If you are going to point the finger at someone, you’ve got to give them notice and it’s that notice process which has delayed [the report] probably for the last six months. So a lot of people will have the finger pointed at them.
“They will be held accountable for each individual part of the scandal, which is appropriate insofar as their involvement is concerned.
“I don’t think we’re going to get the finger pointed at one person saying, ‘You are responsible for the whole thing,’ because there are so many people involved in it and they’re all making individual decisions.”
Westminster’s Methodist’s Central Hall
The significance of this moment cannot be overstated.
The great hall will be full of people infected with deadly diseases in secret trials, bereaved parents who saw their children die and all of the others affected by this preventable tragedy.
The atmosphere will be charged with emotion, anger and hopefully relief.
The delay in delivering justice has compounded the grief and anguish felt by so many. After being lied to and ignored for decades, they finally have their day.
This report must mark the beginning of the end of this shameful scandal.
Sky News will have full coverage of the infected blood report on TV, online and on the Sky News app today
“Losing Gary, my soul mate, was beyond painful,” says Kathryn Croucher, whose husband died aged 42 in 2010.
“Every day was a struggle dealing with the knowledge he was HIV and Hepatitis C positive.”
“Mum always said she was given a death sentence,” recalls Ronan Fitzgerald. His mother, Jane, died aged 54 after being infected with Hepatitis C when she was 16. “It was a ticking time bomb.”
Sky News will have full coverage of the infected blood report on TV, online and on the Sky News app today.
More than 30,000 Britons were infected with HIV and Hepatitis C after being given contaminated blood products in the 1970s and 1980s.
Around 3,000 people have died as a result of the scandal, while many more still live under the shadow of health problems, debilitating treatments and stigma. Now, the findings of a public inquiry, first announced in 2017, will finally be published.
These are 100 faces of infected blood victims that either they, or their families, have shared with Sky News.
UK
Brixham: People remain scared to drink tap water as things slowly return to normal after parasite disease outbreak
“I’m never drinking tap water again,” Kayley Lewis says.
“My symptoms have made me lose a stone in two weeks.”
Ms Lewis and her two children have been suffering from diarrhoea, vomiting and stomach cramps for over a fortnight – since South West Water found small traces of the parasite cryptosporidium in the Hillhead reservoir.
“I can’t trust them [South West Water] again.
“I might start using tap water for dishes… but definitely never to drink. Ever.
“I’ve been completely put off now… especially because of how poorly it makes you feel.
“I just don’t think I could ever try and risk going back to that.”
A bottled water collection point in Devon. Pic: PA
At least 46 people are confirmed to have the disease, while as many as 70 other cases of diarrhoea and vomiting are also under investigation, the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) has said.
South West Water (SWW) has repeatedly apologised – telling Sky News today that they are working “around the clock” to get all households back to using safe water again.
This could be as early as this Wednesday, drought and resilience director at SWW David Harris told me.
“We’re looking at somewhere between mid to late next week before we’ll be in a position to be able to responsibly lift that boil water notice.”
David Harris said it could be a couple of weeks before the boil water notice is lifted
So far, 14,500 households in the Alston supply area can drink their tap water without boiling it first – as advised by SWW.
However, some 2,500 homes in Hillhead, upper parts of Brixham and Kingswear have been told to continue boiling – and cooling – their water supplies before drinking it.
Steve Price, who runs the Station Guest House B&B near Brixham, said he lost a couple of thousand pounds in bookings due to – understandably – paranoid customers.
“Losses we anticipate are roughly around £2000 from people that have cancelled and directly stated that the cancellation was due to the water situation.
“So we would anticipate that at the bare minimum as compensation.”
Read more
Contamination ‘shouldn’t have happened’, SWW boss says
Water firm apologises after parasite detected in reservoir
Parasite outbreak has ‘destroyed’ business, residents say
Kayley Lewis has been drinking bottled water since the disease outbreak
Mr Price has spent the afternoon emptying the B&B’s water tanks in order to minimise the risk to his guests.
“In terms of money – we’re just flushing it away!
“A couple of hundred pounds worth. But this supply feeds the showers, sinks and bathrooms.
“It needs to be completely emptied and cleaned to avoid risks”.
Mr Price’s business isn’t the only one suffering.
It’s a bleak picture across the neighbouring towns.
This time of year Brixham is usually buzzing with holidaymakers – especially by the harbour side.
The past week, however, has been another story.
“It’s a ghost town”, Sally Tollon, an employee at a local chippy tells me.
“We’re really quiet… you can see it’s empty, because people are frightened to come down because of the water situation.
“On average we make a thousand pounds a day. Yesterday we did half of that.”
Sally Tollon says the fish and chip shop where she works is losing money
Despite things slowly getting back to normal, people are scared.
They have lost faith and trust in a water supply – one woman told me – they had “always taken for granted”.
It’s clear rebuilding the community’s trust and confidence in their water supplier will take some time in the coming weeks and months.
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