EnglandWe must start to put racial equity at the heart of everything we do.
Since our charity was founded we have existed to defend the right to a safe home. However, before the summer of 2020, we hadn’t openly questioned whose right to a safe home is more likely to need defending, or why.
We cannot allow the legacy of systemic racism to be one of rising homelessness, unsafe housing and shattered lives, and so the fight against racism is fundamental to our purpose of defending the right to a safe home.
Much like COVID-19, the housing emergency disproportionately impacts both socially and economically marginalised groups - including People of Colour.
Our research shows us that Black and Asian people are more like to be impacted by the housing emergency than White people.
Armed with evidence, we must now take a more public role in being vocal on issues of race and the intersection of marginalised identities.
In 2020 we contacted The Unmistakables, a strategic inclusion consultancy, and in 2021 we began working with Cultural Strategist, Adah Parris. Both have helped us develop a strategy and roadmap for everything we aim to achieve in the short, mid and long-term to become a truly anti-racist organisation.
Our Anti-racism Steering Group is an intersectional team of colleagues from across England and Scotland.
Everything we do at Shelter is backed up by the lived experience of people who have been impacted by the housing emergency. We’re carrying out work to understand the challenges faced by People of Colour who are being failed by the housing system, and how we can best provide support. We’ll use those insights to oppose poor housing policies, such as No Recourse to Public Funds and Right to Rent, and propose policies that directly combat racism in the housing system.
While we are experts in housing, we are the first to admit that we are not the experts in anti-racism and we are early in our journey. We will be reaching out to our peers who are already doing excellent work in anti-racism both nationally and regionally so that together we can transform and even abolish the structures, systems, policies and practices that cause inequity in housing. If your organisation is interested in working with us, please get in touch.
Our communications will centre and amplify the voices of racially marginalised people and those with lived experience of the housing emergency. We will challenge systemic racism and educate audiences on the link between race, housing and homelessness.
We aim for all our staff to bring themselves fully to work, without hiding or toning down any parts of their identity. We will create an inclusive, safe, and equitable culture for all colleagues to thrive and achieve our shared purpose.
We can only be a truly anti-racist organisation if everyone takes action. That’s why anti-racism has been included in everyone’s job descriptions and objectives.
We commit to a safe culture for everyone and will not tolerate any form of hate (overt, systemic or micro-aggressions) from anyone in our workspaces.
We are grateful to our Black colleagues and allies who have helped everyone at Shelter to reflect on our mantra “our enemy is social injustice”. We can't be true to this mantra unless racism, and discrimination against any marginalised communities, is also our enemy.
Polly Neate, Shelter's Chief Executive
An inclusive, non-hierarchical organisation, that shares power and understands how intersectionality and race impact its people, clients, and the housing emergency. One that uses this knowledge to dismantle systemic racism from the inside out.
Sophia, Assistant Director - Income Generation and founding Chair of the Anti-Racism Steering Group
Properly diverse and representative, with people confident they can be their true selves at work, without having to hide aspects of who they are. And all of us thinking about how to tackle systemic change, not just interpersonal acts of hate or discrimination.
Alison, Director of Services and Allies Network Group member
Anti-racism is the proactive dismantling of systemic racism and racist policies underpinning the White privileged society in which we exist. It addresses the specific harm and impact of racism on all racially marginalised communities and proposes equality of outcome, not just opportunity.
For Shelter, this means recognising how race directly impacts the experience and outcomes of our staff and clients, whether positively or negatively, and acknowledging the role power plays, who has it and how it's used.
Equity recognises that each person has different circumstances, and so allocates the exact resources and opportunities needed for everyone to reach an equal outcome.
Equity vs equality: These terms are often used interchangeably but are different. Equality is about opportunities, and equity is about outcomes.
Microagressions are indirect, subtle, or unintentional discrimination against members of a marginalised group.
If you only have two minutes, watch this cartoon on how microaggressions are like mosquito bites. If you have ten minutes, watch this TED Talk giving examples of microaggressions and tools for how to avoid making them.
People of Colour (or PoC) is a term used to refer to anyone who does not identify as White.
Structural racism
A system in which public policies, institutional practices and cultural representations reinforce ways to perpetuate racial inequity. It includes dimensions of history and culture that have allowed privileges associated with ‘Whiteness’ and disadvantages associated with ‘People of Colour’ to endure and adapt over time.
Structural racism is not something that a few people or institutions choose to practice. Instead, it has been and still is a feature of the social, economic and political systems in which we all exist.
Systemic racism
This refers to the way racism is built into every level of our society. One difference between the terms is that structural racism analysis pays more attention to the historical, cultural and social psychological aspects of our currently racialised society. Systemic racism refers to the way racism is built right into every level of our society.
