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 !)

In fact I'm ordering the Kelly Kettle today. My husband is taking our sons camping in Cork in the spring so this will be very useful. They will be having a few trial camps in the UK first.

Tufty thank you for bring this awesome piece of equipment to our attention. We are really outdoorsy so this will get plenty of use. Enjoy the beach!

Ooh, I'm glad I saw this: I'm an economic migrant, can someone tell me how I can get myself some social housing? I'm so sick of having to pay stupid rental prices.

Hully what do you mean? No, I am BU? No, I am not BU, they are entitled, they have social housing, I am just very surprised that they are entitled.

Its not about whether I like it or not, I'm just very surprised about it.

I'm an EU immigrant. I pay a lot of taxes so British people can live in social housing and have benefits. Does that compensate a little for those two families who might or might not receive state support?

I wonder how many British people live in my native country sponging off the state? Are all British people just moving out of the UK so they can cheap housing and benefits elsewhere? Can I be like the OP and get really upset about it without knowing the facts and figures?

Havn't gone yet. I do have a windbreak. I did try and make a little sand fire last time but it didn't work. I'm not Ray Mears.

OurPlanet I'm a bit but not really. I hope you enjoy it

Do you have children spatchcock?

Maybe thats where the eligibility comes from.

Yes I have a baby. My post was slightly tongue-in-cheek. I'm from NZ and moved here for economic reasons and I do receive the child benefit (so shoot me, I pay me taxes!) but nowt else. I think you've been misinformed, sorry.

MrsVoltar I believe I have answered your question. Although I do not live in social housing and I'm not in any council waiting list, I'm as legally entitled to as any Uk citizen. Fortunately I do not need it. If I would need it, the fact that I have paid all my tax into the Uk due to the age I have moved here, I believe that I'm morally entitled to any help I may ever need.

When I moved here there was no recession, so how could it be fair that now just because of the state of the economy, after all the contribution have to this country, if for any unfortunate reason I would become unemployed and homeless I would be told to go home to my country of origin, where I have ever hardly paid any tax???

Ciske I'm not upset about it, I'm asking a question on a discussion board. I would like to be more informed and wondered why this was the case.

The reason I posted was hoping that someone in that position or someone with more knowledge would inform. So that if ever I find myself in a RL discussion I can know what I'm talking about.

In the past I had heard people spouting rubbish about it & said 'no, no, you must be wrong, they must be in private rental in an ex-council house' but that isn't the case.

I'm not implying that I want others to find out & research, just if someone knew more about it could post.

www.parliament.uk/briefing-papers/SN04737.pdf

Mrs V, what you are doing is lumping everyone together, as in all EU immigrants. There are complicated laws regarding this subject and I have put a link above.

Saying EU migrants shouldn't point blank get social housing over and above British citizens full stop is just silly. People have varying degrees of circumstance.

You should be aware that contrary to Daily Mail reports we are often bound by EU legislation which means it is not Britain being a soft touch and that British Citizen are entitled to get the same benefits in other EU countries.

We do have a problem with too many immigrants coming into the UK but at the same token we all too quickly forget the terrible impact Brits have had on EU countries we have emigrated to or bought second homes in over the last 20 years.

A simplistic or misinformed view on immigration will always lead to resentment on both sides. We should all read more actual legislation rather than sensationalist stories or hear say. It is never ok to say well "I know someone who...." we often don't know the first thing about their situation and should not make assumptions.

Cloissant I love you. Would you like to join me and Tufty at the beach for a kelly kettle party? With driftwood fire on the side?

Trish you have answered, thankyou and sorry if I missed your post. That does sound like a valid reason & yahay I am BU.

MrsV - my understanding is that local housing lists are done strictly on need amongst those eligible. Ergo if your friends have a HA house, it's because they were eligible and needed it more than other people on the list (usually kids and relative size of current accomodations does it I think). So in theory YABU to suggest that other people need it more, because if they did they'd have it instead.

On the other hand, I'm a bit vague on how EU people get eligibility. If as above it's by being here more than 2 years, and supporting yourselves for more than 2 years, then they've clearly been paying taxes so I've no beef with them getting some support back.

OTOH I think there should be vastly more council houses etc anyway!

right.... am really going to knuckle down to this research paper now. Bye folks.

Thanks for the link Cloissant I will go & read & hopefully become better informed.

Assumptions on all sides I think, I don't read the Daily Mail.

Don and Tufty I am just around the corner I'll be 5 mins.

A quick read of link explains that the 'free movement' for workers within the EU basically covers it.

They are entitled.

Shows how many people are misinformed as so many responded to my thread as being 'made-up' 'not true' and 'give us proof' (!)

At the beach. Sunny, windy and empty. Lovely. Trying to set up windbreak. It's not going well. Are you bringing the Kelly kettle?

Thanks to informed posters Cloissant & Trish who responded with helpful information rather than knee-jerk outrage.

Hully still on thread, have you read the thread at all? c&p from your post 'THEY AREN'T, THE END'

erm, THEY ARE

any backtracking?

kreecher?
Tufty?

As another with "no recourse to public funds" nicely stamped on my passport visa page, I think YABVVU...and bit misinformed. We aren't entitled to anything, apart from health care, which is in part "paid" for by the crap amount of taxes 40% taken out of my DH's pay.

Stop getting your current events info from the Daily Mail.

Hully, come to the beach

Maybe I should have made clear that I mean EU 'economic migrants'?

Am i wrong in calling them 'economic migrants' ?

Ciske I'm not upset about it, I'm asking a question on a discussion board. I would like to be more informed and wondered why this was the case.

You said 'Why, when the govt is making so many cuts this priority housing is being given to 'economic migrants'? ' and then added 'I'd be very surprised if reciprocal arrangements were in place in other countries.'

So this tells me you are already getting yourself worked up, Daily Mail style, before knowing the facts. It speaks in your favour that you're at least trying to find the facts to test your earlier conclusions, but next time, facts first, indignation later.

Yes, surprise, surprise, EU arrangements are reciprocal and there will be many Brits across the continent taking advantage of local benefit systems. Funny enough, tax duties are reciprocal as well, so EU immigrants are paying their way, just like the real people UK citizens.

For the record, a lot of EU countries have better benefits than the UK, it's not always a better deal to move here.

In response to suggestions that migrants are ?queue jumping? access to social housing, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), in conjunction with the Local Government Association (LGA), commissioned research from the Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) to look at the facts behind these suggestions. The research, launched in November 2007, posed three questions:
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Who is entitled to social housing?
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Who receives social housing?
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Do some groups have unfair access to social housing?
The IPPR?s interim findings were published in April 2008. Announcing the findings, the EHRC said:
Neither the qualitative analysis of local authorities? policies, nor the examination of the patterns of tenure offer any evidence to support the hypothesis that recent migrants are given preferential access to social housing.
The key findings included:
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New migrants to the UK over the last five years make up around three per cent of the total UK population but are less than two per cent of the total of those in social housing.
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90 per cent of those in social housing are UK born.
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Most new migrants to the UK over the last five years, particularly from the new European Union member states such as Poland, have been ineligible to claim entitlement to social housing.
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There is no evidence in the research thus far of any abuse of the system including ?queue jumping? to the significant detriment of any group, including white families.
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11 per cent of new migrants have been allocated social housing. The comparable figure for UK born residents is 17 per cent, and for all foreign born UK residents is 18 per cent indicating that though some migrants do benefit from social housing, they are unlikely to do so until they have been settled for several years and become British citizens; and that they are not significantly more likely to benefit than other residents.
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More than 60 per cent of new migrants to the UK over the last five years are housed in private rented accommodation. 28 Observer, ?A message to my fellow immigrants?, 20 May 2007
29 See EDM 1521 of session 2006-07 11
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In an LGA survey of housing managers, two out of three said that they attributed the shortage of social housing in their area to high house prices. 6 per cent said that the reason for shortages is new migration.
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Perceptions that migrants displace UK-born social housing applicants may arise from the fact that much of the private rented housing which is now home to many newly arrived immigrants is former social housing stock. Local residents may believe it is still ?owned by the council? despite it now being in the private sector.

Oh ok - apart from the 2%

I mean, just under 2%

You obviously know them.