Breaking Down the Barriers: Improving Asian Access to Social Rented Housing.

The title of this report reflects the importance of the issues it raises for the broader debate about tackling social exclusion. The study aims to discover whether there are barriers inhibiting access to social housing by South Asian households in Bradford and how they might be removed. It is particularly timely given the recent strengthening of the Race Relations Act 1976, and the introduction of the Human Rights Act. Both these developments will have a direct impact on the ways in which local authorities and housing associations operate, by making the differential impact of policies and practices on various communities a matter for investigation and action. These developments make the study relevant to the many cities which have substantial minority ethnic communities. At the time of publication, the summer of 2001, it is also highly topical because of the publicity which has followed violent incidents in some northern cities which allegedly had a racial dimension.