On Thursday 24th September, a thinktank reported that people from BAME backgrounds were twice as likely to face financial hardships in paying their utility bills, rent and other expenses owing to the adverse effects of coronavirus.
The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) have reported that people from BAME background were twice as likely to have lost their jobs or otherwise stopped paid working during the crisis. This appears after it was highlighted that a third of the coronavirus patients in the UK were from BAME backgrounds. It noted that borrowers from black communities also had particularly high relative debt levels compared with their income, at an average equivalent to 18% of their annual gross income, compared with 12% across all groups. Thirteen per cent of people from all minority ethnic groups who were employed or self-employed at the start of the year were no longer working in June, compared with 5% of the group generally. People from minority ethnic communities are also more likely to be renters who will not have had the benefit of mortgage payment holidays.
In a statement to The Guardian, Shreya Nanda, author of the report said, “Without further intervention, we are on course for a new debt crisis from which black, Asian and other minority ethnic people are particularly at risk. Many in these communities are likely to experience financial difficulty in the months ahead, and to be vulnerable to eviction as a result of rent arrears. Such economic insecurity risks compounding the already disproportionate health impacts borne by people with minority ethnic backgrounds during this crisis – effectively a ‘double whammy’.”
