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A house is not a home: housing disadvantage, homelessness, and modern slavery

Open ORCID profile in a new windowNick Clare†Nick Clare††

Nick Clare is an Associate Professor in Economic Geography in the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham, UK and a British Academy Innovation Fellow. His research explores the links between housing, homelessness, debt, and labour exploitation, with a particular focus on race and migratory status.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012
,
Open ORCID profile in a new windowSteve Iafrati‡Steve Iafrati‡‡

Steve Iafrati is an Assistant Professor in social policy in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham, UK. His main areas of interest are vulnerable people’s experiences of welfare and political economy, and his publications have included work on food banks and poverty, but more recently have focused on housing.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012
,
Open ORCID profile in a new windowCarla Reeson§Carla Reeson§§

Carla Reeson is an Assistant Professor in the School of Law at the University of Nottingham, UK. Her specialism lies primarily within housing law and homelessness. Her expertise focus on the practices of frontline housing officers in local authorities in England, but also has interests in broader housing related policy development, social welfare, administrative justice and property law.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012
,
Open ORCID profile in a new windowNicola WrightNicola Wright

Nicola Wright is an Associate Professor in Mental Health in the School of Health Sciences as well as associate director of the Rights Lab, both at the University of Nottingham, UK. Her research includes the development of a unique programme of therapeutic care for survivors of slavery, work to understand survivors’ own definitions of recovery, and work with policy-makers on policies around survivor support, especially in regard to safehousing.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012
,
Open ORCID profile in a new windowCharlotte Gray**Charlotte Gray****

Charlotte Gray currently works as a Policy and Research Officer in local government. She previously worked as Research Fellow in Modern Slavery and Labour Exploitation at the Rights Lab, involved in multiple projects including evaluating a further education qualification on workers’ rights and labour exploitation, developing modern slavery guidance for small and medium enterprises, and examining the exploitation of migrant workers.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012
,
Open ORCID profile in a new windowHenri Baptiste††Henri Baptiste††††

Henri Baptiste is director of Pathway Housing Solutions, a Nottingham-based organisation that supports racialised minorities experiencing homelessness and provides culturally-competent alternative housing. He is co-applicant with Nick Clare on a British Academy Innovation Fellowship.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012

Abstract

This commentary focuses on the underexplored links between housing disadvantage, homelessness, and modern slavery. Despite significant anecdotal evidence, there is a pressing need for proper theorisation of the connections between housing situation and vulnerability to modern slavery. This commentary combats this lacuna by focusing on four types of (un)housing: homelessness, safehouses, social housing, and the private rented sector. While each site has its own relationship to modern slavery, be it cause, consequence, or potential solution, commonalities emerge. Modern slavery is a form of ‘hyper-precarity’, and the ‘ontological security’ of a place to call home is crucial when combatting this. But a house is not a home, and security of tenure alone is insufficient – in fact in some cases tenure security can actually increase vulnerability to modern slavery. A sense of home can act as a bulwark against modern slavery, but poor housing and bad policies increase precarity, homelessness, and exploitation.

Keywords

Modern slaveryhomelessnesssocial housingsafehouseshousing crisis
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Article commentary

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A house is not a home: housing disadvantage, homelessness, and modern slavery

Open ORCID profile in a new windowNick Clare†Nick Clare††

Nick Clare is an Associate Professor in Economic Geography in the School of Geography at the University of Nottingham, UK and a British Academy Innovation Fellow. His research explores the links between housing, homelessness, debt, and labour exploitation, with a particular focus on race and migratory status.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012
,
Open ORCID profile in a new windowSteve Iafrati‡Steve Iafrati‡‡

Steve Iafrati is an Assistant Professor in social policy in the School of Sociology and Social Policy at the University of Nottingham, UK. His main areas of interest are vulnerable people’s experiences of welfare and political economy, and his publications have included work on food banks and poverty, but more recently have focused on housing.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012
,
Open ORCID profile in a new windowCarla Reeson§Carla Reeson§§

Carla Reeson is an Assistant Professor in the School of Law at the University of Nottingham, UK. Her specialism lies primarily within housing law and homelessness. Her expertise focus on the practices of frontline housing officers in local authorities in England, but also has interests in broader housing related policy development, social welfare, administrative justice and property law.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012
,
Open ORCID profile in a new windowNicola WrightNicola Wright

Nicola Wright is an Associate Professor in Mental Health in the School of Health Sciences as well as associate director of the Rights Lab, both at the University of Nottingham, UK. Her research includes the development of a unique programme of therapeutic care for survivors of slavery, work to understand survivors’ own definitions of recovery, and work with policy-makers on policies around survivor support, especially in regard to safehousing.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012
,
Open ORCID profile in a new windowCharlotte Gray**Charlotte Gray****

Charlotte Gray currently works as a Policy and Research Officer in local government. She previously worked as Research Fellow in Modern Slavery and Labour Exploitation at the Rights Lab, involved in multiple projects including evaluating a further education qualification on workers’ rights and labour exploitation, developing modern slavery guidance for small and medium enterprises, and examining the exploitation of migrant workers.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012
,
Open ORCID profile in a new windowHenri Baptiste††Henri Baptiste††††

Henri Baptiste is director of Pathway Housing Solutions, a Nottingham-based organisation that supports racialised minorities experiencing homelessness and provides culturally-competent alternative housing. He is co-applicant with Nick Clare on a British Academy Innovation Fellowship.

Open ORCID profile in a new windowhttps://orcid.org/0000-0001-5425-4012