ABSTRACT
The analysis which follows stems from a growing concern at the apparent inability of the literature, both beyond the discipline and within it, to provide a convincing theorisation of the structural position of Britain's minority populations within the housing market. Households of Indian and Pakistani origin are characterised as heavily concentrated in inner city terraced housing. Employing summaries of detailed analyses of 1991 Census data, this chapter aims to demonstrate that large-scale secondary data on factors such as tenure, dwelling type, amenities and levels of overcrowding can be used to interrogate existing theoretical debates. As research has consistently demonstrated a link between poor housing and ill health, housing quality is of prime importance. In sum, with a few notable exceptions, we appear to be witnessing a significant narrowing of ethnic differentials in tenure patterns. It was always a theoretically dubious argument to suggest that ethnicity could explain the different tenure patterns of the various minority groups.
