The Housing Situations of Food Bank Users in Great Britain

Amy Clair,Doireann Lalor,Jasmine Fledderjohann,Rachel Loopstra

doi:10.1017/s1474746419000150

Abstract

Food bank use in Great Britain has risen substantially over the last decade. The considerable socioeconomic disadvantage of the food bank user population has been documented, but little research has examined whether housing problems intersect with insecure food access. Using data from 598 households accessing assistance from twenty-four food banks operating in Great Britain in 2016–2017, we found that nearly 18 per cent of households were homeless, with more having experienced homelessness in the past twelve months. Renters from both the private and social rented sectors were also overrepresented in the sample. Households in both private and social rented housing reported high rates of rent arrears and poor conditions; those in private housing were also more likely to live in homes with damp, to have moved in past year, and to be worried about a forced move in future. Overall, housing problems are widespread among food bank users; policy interventions are needed.

Highlights

The provision of food assistance from food banks in Britain has increased dramatically in the past seven years
The majority of food bank users were renters: 45.2 per cent of the sample was living in socially rented housing, and 30.1 per cent were renting privately, compared to 17.2 per cent and 19.9 per cent in the UK population respectively3 (MHCLG, 2018)
We find that food bank users are overwhelmingly living in rented homes, though nearly one in five are in some form of temporary accommodation, living in poor conditions and facing high levels of housing insecurity

Summary

Introduction

The provision of food assistance from food banks in Britain has increased dramatically in the past seven years. Reductions in social housing have occurred alongside government support for increasing home ownership; Right to Buy was one of the main vehicles for increasing the ownership rate (Gurney, 1999; Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, 2006; Ronald, 2008; Watson and Webb, 2009; Jones, 2010; Searle and Köppe, 2014) This push for a home-owning society reflects a move towards ‘asset-based welfare’, where wealth accumulation through home ownership is encouraged so that this asset can be used to smooth out periods of financial difficulty, old age, instead of more traditional, state-provided financial support such as social security benefits (Lowe et al, 2012; Searle and Köppe, 2014)

Results

Discussion

Conclusion