The truth about immigrants and housing shortage

[Strawbal]

What is the truth? Is the country housing immigrants at the cost of our own housing crisis?

I'm bombarded with many differing viewpoints (on this and many issues) and I can’t sort the wheat from the chaff

Oh fuck off

Perfect answer.

Just raw numbers with no commentary.

1,218,000 gross immigration 2023
685,000 net immigration 2023
231,100 new homes built in 2023

How many of those are students who are here temporarily ( and are propping up our Universities)? As well as living in multi occupancy housing? Those are legal migration figures. So people the government have asked to come here legally. The system is ridiculous because it allows in some dodgy Iranian hate preachers on 'religious visas' and has some odd ' shortage' industries like 'dancer' on because of the UK's botched Brexit deal meant artists can't travel easily. Blame the previous government for that and employers if they have decided they would rather import ready trained people from abroad than spend money on education snd training of British young people. Smashing up libraries isn't going to help with that. Although they probably didn't know what it was.

It doesn’t matter what type of housing immigrants of any type are in. It of course places pressure on housing. If 200k leave and 300k come in we need more homes regardless.

Hmo’s and holiday lets are absolutely to blame also and frankly should be banned or only purpose built to start with.

Holidays should be in hotels, caravan parks, camping not what could be someone’s full
time home. HMOs shouldn’t be allowed from cutting up family sized homes either they need purpose built accommodation such as studios/one bed flats or purpose built one room accommodations.

Uni students again should be in halls.

But you can’t say immigration doesn’t and hasn’t bumped up the creation of hmos either. An area in our city was regularly on slum landlords stuffing as many poor new arrived souls into terrible accommodation as possible till they where shut down and within a few months full up again.

I wasn't going to comment because when I have in the past I've been told it didn't happen. Where I lived and worked there were always a few immigrants who needed social housing. This is the area I worked in all my adult life. There weren't many, but then several things happened. First thing, we were asked if there was any accommodation available for asylum seekers, for their use before their claim had been decided. We did so, we had families who came. Then it was single men, and of course they then stayed and we housed them permanently. And then more and more came. Not always accommodated initially by the l/a but the agencies who dealt with them were the leasing properties long term to accommodate them. And clearly that caused issues as those properties weren't available for other use. In addition, more single men arrived and that caused social issues, because it was a huge culture shock for them. They really didn't get that women are equal, believe me, I have first had experience of that.
Then Tony Blair decided that people from the A8 countries could come to the UK and immediately be able to apply for housing. It was slightly more complicated as he introduced the workers registration scheme, if the person was registered on that scheme and were working then, bingo! We saw huge numbers of people from Poland, the Baltic States, Czechia, etc. And, of course that was added pressure on social housing. And, of course private rents with all that entails.
Look, it's not racist to say that more people causes issues, because it does. It doesn't just affect housing, but all other services provided by the public sector. All of those new arrivals didn't work in the NHS you know. And they were able to claim jsa if they weren't working. Do you know how much the budget for interpreters increased? It was horrendous. I've actually had to try to interview people whose 1st language is spoken by a very few people with only 1 accredited interpreter in the UK, who that day was assisting in a court case. Of course, I couldn't interview him.
I'm sorry this is a bit of a rant, but I honestly think that until we can have a conversation that doesn't involve constant cries of racism, and an acknowledgement that successive governments have caused the issues, and didn't think it through, we will get nowhere. And, listen to people who might have different experiences to you. Lots of people aren't basing their thoughts on racism, but experience.
We are overcrowded. Think about what you want to leave your children and if you want everywhere to be built over.

But you can’t say immigration doesn’t and hasn’t bumped up the creation of hmos either. An area in our city was regularly on slum landlords stuffing as many poor new arrived souls into terrible accommodation as possible till they where shut down and within a few months full up again.
I'm not saying it hasn't, and of course it has, especially in London, where people cannot afford housing unless they are sharing with multiple people. I was responding to the bare statistics quoted. Slum landlords need to be sanctioned. Visas need to be reduced. But in order for that to happen, Universities need to be better funded, further and higher education needs to be funded, schools need to be better supported parents who start fights with school and end up bringing up the kinds of workless thugs who have been arrested need to be sanctioned . Resources need to he put in place to get people on long term sick back to work. Employers need to invest more in training rather than importing people from abroad. All of this needs to happen before immigration is reduced. The Tory government knew this( which is why legal migration rose so high under the system they implemented, and they decided to use the dead cat strategy of small boats instead of dealing with their own problems) Otherwise it will be an absolute disaster for this country and it's hugely ageing population.

I think the immigrants should have to pay for interpreters.

This.

I don’t understand why ‘immigration‘ is a black and white case - either you’re pro open boarders or you’re a racist.

Every 5th comment on here is the argument ‘without immigration our NHS would be on its knees’. Yep, can we discuss migrants who are here via loop holes at best, not net contributors, have zero motivation to integrate and have zero respect for women tho?

We have enough British scumbags, just because we can’t ‘send them home’ doesn’t mean that we have to accept the global scumbags too. Yes, there’s the moral question on the brain drain from the global south, but that’s down for their own nations to sort.

I can’t say what I used to do for a living but I know first hand that not all migrants are these amazing doctors that everyone keeps counter arguing with.

Imagine thinking somebody who has never stepped inside a classroom, or opened a text book, or lived in a place that doesn’t have rubbish bins, or had stable work/work experience or lived in a community that respects women, is going to have the skills and ability to become a net contributor. I’ve worked with these individuals but told to wear trousers and not wear lipstick as in their culture it makes you a prostitute/easy. Great, can we make lesson one, sexually harassing women won’t be tolerated whilst accessing our services? Bigger fish to fry apparently.

But yes, as it’s not all migrants who sexually harass (well duh!) and it’s not just migrants who sexually harass (double duh!) Can’t we just cherry pick the ones that don’t sexually harass? Or the ones that fail the basic standards of being a net contributor, speaking the language and respecting women we can remove their right to be here.

But hey, if you think there should be any standards to who we either invite/allow to be here you’re a racist.

Whilst the majority of migrants are great people, who we’re lucky to have here, the one or whatever percent who aren’t, is one percent too many.

Not needed, Things have moved on. Phone apps are used as the main way to interpret.

Actually a lot of local authorities use translators, not apps, I've just checked where I used to work and it's still the same. It just wouldn't be suitable to use an app for complicated interviews of a legal nature.

Yes, it is common sense to most British people but nothing much is ever done about it and the facts speak for themselves - record immigration which for the rich is great as they can get servants and delivery drivers and workers in their companies but for other people they are the ones who usually suffer the results