Social housing and Syrian Refugees

[Plentymoresharks]

Controversial one. A memo has gone out from the local council to local residents, asking whether anyone has a property they can offer for Syrian refugees, housing benefit will be paid as well as a premium and money to hold the property until it is occupied, money for decorating and repairing the property etc.

Aibu to find it ridiculous that basically the council will be housing refugees who have been flown around the world ahead of people already on the waiting list for social housing? Also, there are homeless people who I see every day, living in the park and under a car park bridge but they aren't getting this same help (the memo mentions the social and medical help the refugees will also be given).

YANBU but you are also being a bit unreasonable...

Basically the issue is that the government should be extending the same incentive to landlords to house people currently living in hostels/the homeless as well. But they're not.

OTOH I think it's 100% right we give refuge to those who need it. I also think we need to do this with our eyes open - understanding that these people are traumatised, have very very different views from us on women's rights, homosexuality, etc. we also should understand that this is a humanitarian mission - historically immigrants from countries with poor education (the average Syrian has less education than the average Egyptian - just 6 years) don't add economically to the country, in contrast with European immigrants who generally do add to the economy.

But that's not the point - even if every refugee remained unemployed for years it would still be right to take them IMO as it is our moral duty to help refugees.

www.nytimes.com/2015/12/20/world/europe/norway-offers-migrants-a-lesson-in-how-to-treat-women.html

'Young Syrian men are often the first to leave not just because they are young and fit and single but because if they don't they'll be forced to fight - either by Assad or ISIS. Or imprisoned/executed as a possible enemy combatant. If you are male and of fighting age you don't get to stay and be neutral'

Whereas the women only have to fear multiple rape and death.

Babyboomersrock instead of weeping, please explain to me the relevance of Christmas to the discussion on this thread.

Like you, I am not Christian (or in my case any other religion) and my understanding is that very very few Syrian refugees are Christian, so what is the relevance of Christmas? I genuinely don't see the connection.

They are probably housing Syrian refugees in London, because if they were housed in places like Blackburn, Dundee or Liverpool, there would be outcries of how disgusting it is that we can't even treat refugees in a civilised manner and are instead shipping them off to some grim inhospitable northern outpost where there are loads of empty houses because no-one wants to live there

Once the refugees get their NI number, won't they also be allowed to work April?

Morning, Jayda.

yes hopefully barbara or claim benefits because they are hardly likely to get job straight away

please explain to me the relevance of Christmas to the discussion on this thread

The story of Christmas. Homeless family seeking, and being denied, shelter.

We are allegedly a Christian country, or at least we cite the moral values of Christianity when it suits.

I'm not actually weeping, more raging. And I have no religion.

the council announced they will get accomadation .house fully furnished they will pay no bills and get money to tide them over until they get ni number then they can start claiming benefits.now local folk dont get offered this. does it sound fair to you

Yes.

What else do you suggest we do with refuges when they arrive? Dump them all off in the middle of a street and tell them that's as far as it goes, get on with it? We have an obligation to feed, clothe and house them until they are able to do it for themselves.

I hate threads like this! Fucking hate them!
Straight out the Daily Fail and Britain First.
OP

'We have an obligation to feed, clothe and house them until they are able to do it for themselves.'

I'd like to see government funding available for at least 5 years if needed, not just one.

I think the true disgrace lies with countries like Saudi who have the wealth and space to help these people who are at least of the same religion, yet they are unwilling to take them in.

I'm sorry but it's becoming increasingly difficult not to say anything on these threads. Yes I do feel for the refugees I really do, however they are 'landing' on safe countries where the threat of terror etc is reduced, yet continue to then migrate to the UK. Why are they not staying in the other safe countries they access? Because they know of the reach the UK we will house then, offer benefits and put their needs above those of our own people! They are only refugees until they reach a safe country, after this they are then migrants!

Anthony, I imagine Babyboomersrock is referring not to the religion of the refugees but to that of the UK, deemed so important that Christmas is a national holiday.

Jesus rather famously said:

35 "For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.'

37 Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink?

38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'

40 The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.'"

Matthew 25: 35-40

And assorted other instructions along the lines of loving thy neighbour as thyself.

yes summer nights i get that but local folk dont get a start like that .they usually get a bare house and told to get on with it .the refugees never seem to get dumped in bb,s .imagine if you were a single mother say fleeing a violent partner stuck in a bb over christmas with your kids .and hear this announced .of course folk get fed up

Angry - the refugees that we are taking are coming directly from refugee camps, and are the most vulnerable i.e. families, the elderly.

April - I don't think you're wrong; you're right that the way we treat those fleeing violence & the homeless is totally shit, but we should arguing to extend the same consideration to everyone rather than arguing that refugees shouldn't get it in the first place.

It is down to the central funding councils are receiving for refugees, the govt. should make the same funding available for the homeless, those living in hostels. Obviously this govt. is not keen to do that...

I'm at the price of housing. No wonder people end up homeless or living in B and B accomadation.

If I understand correctly the rental will only be paid equivilent to a 2 bed. So are they only asking for 2 bed or 1 bed properties? If so these refugees will possibly arrive as a family of 5/6+ and have a small property in a foreign country to rent - no job etc. They will have to stay in one of the most expensive parts of England whilst they wait for the working restrictions to be removed. Iirc it's a year here? Then they will have to relocate somewhere affordable or where they can work?

It's not as simple as queue jumping - and similar schemes do work in local councils too for social housing applicants.

I have just got a housing association flat after being homeless for a year. Refugees are not being put into these properties and are not pushing people back down the queue. Local authorities are looking for private landlords and will pay housing benefit. There is absolutely nothing worth knicker twisting about. Refugees simply aren't eligible for council housing.

babyboomersrock I have already said I am not a Christian. The "story" of Christmas is therefore of no relevance to me, it is just another of the many available sky fairy stories like the loaves and the fishes.

Christmas for me (and for many other people) is more about having a winter holiday and spending time with friends and family as well as being thankful that the shortest day of the year has passed and we have turned the corner into a new cycle of life and growth.

Each to their own, but please don't make the mistake of thinking that everyone has sky fairy stories in the front of their mind at this time of year.

Saudi is hardly a great place to go, even as a Muslim. Their human rights record is atrocious. It's not really a great alternative!

Maybe the single mother fleeing a violent partner should be given a place in a refugee camp first then, to make things fair?

You read this bit in them memo:

) Victims of torture or violence,
2) Women and girls at risk, and
3) Having physical or medical needs

And then you thought, fuck them, why should they get housing?

Okaaaaay...........

YABU

Lambeth do an almost identical scheme for homeless people in their Borough, they offer a cash incentive at the beginning of a tenancy so landlords will rent to people on DSS.

PausingFlatly Im afraid I see quotes from any religious books as quotes from stories. You might as well quote from Harry Potter, another set of nice stories.

yes summer nights i get that but local folk dont get a start like that .they usually get a bare house and told to get on with it

Local folk have the amazing luck of being born here, with the huge amount of opportunities that comes with. But for a stroke of luck it would be us all rushing the other bloody way.

Remember that the only reason you're here in the UK is chance and luck - not because you earned or morally 'deserve' the right to live here more than the poor buggers born into war or poverty.

God the World is a depressing place sometimes.