To think that 'economic migrants' should not be entitled to 'social housing'?

[MrsVoltar]

Am I BU? I would like to be told YABU & given reasons why. I don't (think) I have a problem with 'economic migrants', by that I mean people who move to another country for better pay/ more jobs etc, but I didn't expect they would be entitled to social housing. Why are they?

Why, when the govt is making so many cuts this priority housing is being given to 'economic migrants'? I don't mean 'asylum seekers' or people in genuine need who cannot return to their home country. Surely if you move to another country for better pay/job prospects you should be willing to 'pay your way' in the accomodation market too?

I'd be very surprised if reciprocal arrangements were in place in other countries. Could someone from the UK move to Spain, for example, get a job there, have children & be entitled to 'social housing' there? I would like to be told I am wrong (I really dislike having a 'Daily Mail' attitude to this!)

(a bit scared, this is my first AIBU !)

So they do what? Arrive here bags in hand and go straight to local council?

Totally agree OP.

Could you provide ONE eg of an economic migrant who has been given social housing?

I do agree with you in essence OP but I'm sure it's much more complicated than that.

YANBU but you will get lots of people saying that our country has limitless resources/ money / space and you are a racist venom spouting harridan for wondering why we pay for literally millions of people to take advantage of our very lax benefit syste.
I also doubt very much that if you moved to another EU country you would get the same level of help, let alone to a non EU country

Well I can't speak for your council but I can say quite categorically that anyone arriving at mine from outwith the authority area with a plastic bag demanding a house would be told to go back to where they came from.

But do they get social housing? I know loads of economic migrants and none are in social housing. You may be right but I just don't think it's that common is it?

I have only heard that they privately rent and the complaints have been that they over crowd their rented accommodation.

I'm an immigration lawyer and part of my job is to give telephone advice to people detained in police stations for breaching immigration rules. If this was available, I would imagine I wouldn't have had to advise a Polish chap the other day that unfortunately, he would have to go home and be homeless in Poland rather than cluttering up our streets...

I am not sure this is totally correct. I am not british and live here. I have a work visa which entitles me to work, i am not allowed any benefits (which is correct, and this is stamped in my passport). Usually there are quite strict criteria to come and work here, you must have a skill or do a job that is needed (so it could be seasonal for e.g. fruit picking or a nuclear scienties) - I am allowed here becasue of ancestral reasons, which had to be proven. I also have had to pay around £900 for these visa's and to update them again will need to pay around £500. The one thing I am allowed is to be part of the NHS and that is because I pay towards this. Can you show me a link which says that economic migrants get this .....

THEY AREN'T

THE END

YABU, and I think ignorant. DDs school has several Polish children attending. From what I can see, they all live in either private rented housing or have mortgages.
I am an economic migrant in a way, me and DD both came back to England in July in order that she could attend a certain school and so that I could get a job.
I am not eligible for any benefit as I haven't paid into the system since we left 11 years ago.

I could have saved myself a lot of fingertip wear if I'd only waited and not cross posted with Hully.

Actually, "economic migrants" (i.e. people in the UK on work visas) have stamped in their passports "no recourse to public funds". So they're not entitled to benefits fullstop.

YA an idiot.

In a recent judgment, the Supreme Court held that while the right to reside test was indirectly discriminatory on the basis of nationality, the discrimination was justified as a proportionate response to the legitimate aim of protecting the public purse. However, the European Commission has concluded that the test is discriminatory, contrary to EU law, and on 29 September 2011 issued a ?reasoned opinion? under EU infringement procedure. The UK has two months to inform the Commission how it intends to bring UK law into line with EU law. Failure to do so could result in the UK being referred to the European Court of Justice.

Tell me how many economic migrants you know in social housing. Broadly if you don't know the exact figures? Even a percentage will do. How have you formed this opinion? Is it based on facts? Or is it based on some urban myth espoused by the Daily Mail?

But social housing isn't a government 'benefit'!!

It's nothing to do with the benefits system....AT ALL!

In answer to your question then yes we are entitled to the same rights as EU citizens have here.

I think Hully has this one licked.

Nothing to see here.....

EU free movement rules require migrant workers to be able to support themselves without state support for 2 years. Your Daily Mail outrage is based on ignorance.

"Even if an EU migrant is eligible for housing, if they are applying for assistance under Part 7 of the 1996 Housing Act (the homelessness provisions) they must also be unintentionally homeless and fall into a priority need category, as defined by section 167 of the 1996 Act, before they can qualify for assistance.15"

So they can't just come over and say I have chosen to come to the UK to work and need somewhere to live because they would be intentionally homeless.

Has anyone noticed what a gorgeous day it is today? Beautiful crispy clear air and a blue blue sky. What are people doing today?

My mother would say this is true. My mother also believes all UK jobs go to people from outside the UK.

I disagree with my mother quite a lot. Sometimes silently.

Economic migrants to the UK are not automatically given social housing. Not in this world.

YANBU - I wouldn't be at all surprised if this was going on

Not here in the country I economically migrated too. It's peeing down.