Scottish Government Equality Outcomes: Religion and Belief Evidence Review

6 HOUSING

6.1 This section summarises the evidence on housing in Scotland by religion, in terms of tenure and overcrowding. Note that the preceding section, on Poverty, has explored classifications of place of residence in terms of deprivation.

Tenure

6.2 Figure 9 below shows that Sikhs and Jews are most likely to own their own home, whilst Buddhists and Hindus are more likely to rent^[23].

Figure 9: Tenure by current religion, 2001 (Source: High-level summary of equality statistics, 2006)

6.3 Over two-thirds (71%) of people in households in Scotland live in a house or bungalow^[24]. This compares to 76% of respondents who were Church of Scotland, 69% Sikh, 66% Roman Catholic, 57% of Buddhists, 55% of Hindus, 53% of Muslims and 50% of people responding as Another Religion. This may be partly explained by the high proportion of Muslims and Hindus living in urban areas. Of all religious groups, Sikhs and Jewish people are most likely to own their own home. Hindus are least likely to rent in the public sector, with only 16% renting from the Council, Scottish Homes (as it formerly was) and Housing Associations. People of Christian religions are most likely to rent in this sector: 86% of Roman Catholics and 81% of people from the Church of Scotland rent in the public sector.

Overcrowding

6.4 Overcrowding can be an issue for some religious groups, as they often have large family groupings so require more rooms: this can be a challenge for landlords with a limited stock of larger properties (ibid.). This is illustrated at the GB level in Figure 10 below^[25], with Muslim households being the most affected.

Figure 10: Overcrowding by religious group. (Source: Focus on ethnicity and religion, 2006)