Where will the refugees coming to the UK live?

[Meeklynamechanged]

In no way a goady thread, I fully support helping the people fleeing such horrid circumstances, but genuine question.. where will they live? Where do we put people?

Where I live we have people waiting 10 years for a council property. Most areas around the UK have a huge deficit in available housing that doesn't meet demand.

With so many families stuck in overcrowded hostels and B&B's, families of 5 in 1 bed flats, I can't see where all of the required the housing will come from?

@FightingFoo

Considering you acknowledge British families would not agree to living like this, why on earth do you think Afghan families would? It's an incredibly racist notion that it's ok for an Afghan family to live 5 to a 1-bed house but not a British family.

Don’t be ridiculous. Single rooms offered to refugees would be a temporary measure for that person alone until something more suitable comes along. People on the housing register are families who are waiting for a permanent home of their own.

Accusing me of being a racist was not quite the gotcha you thought it was.

@Dongdingdong
Second homes and Airbnbs should be used to accommodate refugees from Afghanistan. That should just about cover it

Probably better to elect a government that has a sensible economic/housing policy than punish citizens who have been following the rules and contributing lots of tax.

If the government had any sense they'd introduce a law against buying property as an investment and leaving it empty. half of central London - entire apartment blocks stand empty. A family member used to live in one - all the other flats were owned by investors and left to grow mouldy.

Why on earth would a Tory government want to do that ?

@PalmsandCharms yes and calling them do gooders and wanting to make themselves look better!

Just because they want to help.

Outrageous isn't it?

[quote supermoonrising]@libertyfarmboots
England is extremely overpopulated, one of the most densely populated in Europe, and it’s where everyone ends up. It’s no use just saying - well let’s build/ create more job opportunity elsewhere - you need decent government for that and we’re a million miles away from achieving political accountability and competence. Besides, every country’s human population should be looking to lessen its impact on the rest of the natural world, not increase it. That means fewer people, not more.[/quote]
The Uk has appalling infrastructure.

I m always amazed when i used to fly into an english airport how much is completely undeveloped.

We build 100s of 000s of houses each year but don't build new roads, railways schools health services etc etc

Anyway, our birthrate is at an all time low, all it took was for a few EU citizens to go home and suddenly we have have 1m job vacancies.

Patel now asking for international partners to take afghan refugees too...rich from her considering the UK has point blank refused to take refugees who have crossed over from Libya or Turkey.

Maybe the nightingale hospitals could be used initially

Our local one has been dismantled.

@SerendipityJane

If the government had any sense they'd introduce a law against buying property as an investment and leaving it empty. half of central London - entire apartment blocks stand empty. A family member used to live in one - all the other flats were owned by investors and left to grow mouldy.

Why on earth would a Tory government want to do that ?

Labour were in power for 13 years, did not reverse the 2nd home boom nor re start council housing.

Almost all MPs have their greedy fingers in property.

@Firstbornunicorn

I’ve volunteered my spare room. I imagine a lot of people will do the same.

Would you volunteer a spare room for the existing homeless? I ask not because I think refugees (from any country) shouldn't be given refuge in the UK, rather that so many people jump on the 'I'm willing to help' bandwagon only for certain causes - usually those with media exposure

This seems to be a well-managed scheme for short-term hosting, which might be less daunting for people wanting to try it out: uk.depaulcharity.org/nightstop/

@SingingInTheShithouse - I'm saddened by your dismissal of "dick fear".
Maybe some women on here have every right to fear male behaviour and violence.
Maybe, as you say, they're all decent men fleeing a regime who'll be lovely etc, but don't dismiss women's fears with statements like that.

I pray to god's you don't have sons

Sorry, but to live in fear & blame of all of a section of society because of bad experiences with a few or a very bad experience with one is no way to live & hardly rational or fair to the many innocent men.

That's not to dismiss the experience of some women, we've all dealt with shit from men, but blaming all men & presuming therefore they are all guilty before proven innocent is no different to judging someone for the colour of their skin. I get caution when inviting someone into your home, but I'd be equally cautious whether male or female

775 rooms in Buckingham Palace alone surrounded by 40 acres! The royals are the biggest owners of multiple unoccupied homes in the UK, the majority of which are owned by us, heated and staffed all year round even when empty. Scandalous. Not sure why we keep hearing about ‘second home owners’ with private, non taxpayer funded properties, when these giant ‘council houses’ exist.

@sbfptw do such schemes exist? The links on this page are to properly run schemes. So you have structure in place that can help deal with placements, reading it they try to match the refugee with your household and ask how long you want to help for days/weeks/months etc.

If there was such a scheme for the homeless currently in the UK, I would certainly consider it.

I wouldn't want to just randomly accommodate someone.

That's me personally.

@jasjas1973
Almost all MPs have their greedy fingers in property
True, but statistically it’s something like 50% Tory are landlords compared to 30% Labour.

@SingingInTheShithouse -
You "pray to god I don't have sons"
Just think about that statement. It's upsetting.
You don't know my circumstances.
No-one should dismiss all men.
But dismissing women's fears as "dick hating" is not ok.

@StoneofDestiny
775 rooms in Buckingham Palace alone surrounded by 40 acres

It would be a huge PR win for them if they did it. They won’t of course, not in a million years.

@FightingtheFoo 5 to a 1 bed house was normal until the 1930's.
Will be again soon if the Tories carry on as they are.

@Maireas

Not to be over dramatic or anything 🙄

It's not that we don't have the resources as a nation to house refugees, the homeless or any other group, it's a lack of willingness to do so - it's a distribution problem rather than a supply problem.
In a report by the www.if.org.U.K. they estimate according to the U.K. census there are 25million unoccupied bedrooms within British homes. This refers to housing stock only so doesn't include bedrooms in hotels etc.
It's also a support resource issue funding has been cut to help those in need a lot in the past decade whilst the gap between the richest and the poorest being the wider than ever. Wealth inequality in the U.K. is far greater than most European countries. Covid made an already accelerated jump in this difference worse with lots at the top actually making money over the crisis.
There is plenty of accommodation and money in the U.K. unfortunately it's not very fairly distributed and we don't have a government particularly interested in changing that. They will tinker with the effects for the masses however the inequality at the top is where the solution lies and that is unlikely to change at least for now.

That's mumsnet for you

And then there's the ritualised bullying of those who dare to have a different opinion

It’s always the same.

And all of the people I know in real life who do genuinely get involved in helping other people would be appalled at the thought of bragging on a forum about it, and belittling anyone else who didn’t.

@SingingInTheShithouse -
I think we agree about refugees.
Just disagree on the other issues.
I won't pray to God about the gender of children you may or may not have. If you're a parent, I'm sure you're as wonderful a one as me

@AttaGirrrrl

Years ago when I lived in London, a local office block had been turned into temporary accommodation. There must be hundreds of offices sitting empty now that can be converted.

I live somewhere this is routinely done. I do worry about housing standards, but presumably when selling them for £300,000 upwards they meet the regulations. A lot of the time windows don’t even open.

There is one that makes me really nervous, it’s in an industrial trading estate area and you see kids walking home navigating the badly parked cars and lorries.

@jasjas1973

We build 100s of 000s of houses each year but don't build new roads, railways schools health services etc

Not only that but we’re increasingly actually paving over green species, little playing fields, parks etc to create space for more housing. I applaud the sentiment of inviting in countless millions of ordinary people whose lives have been screwed in part by historical Western meddling, but occasional grand gestures are easier for politicians than creating sustainable, safe and pleasant communities to live in which people can raise families. Significant swathes of people in England live in conditions comparable to the poorest of Eastern Europe. Where’s the line?

@StoneofDestiny

I returned to the UK a few years ago after living in the US for almost 50 years. I didn't recognize my own country. Good lord the UK is turning into a overcrowded shit-hole with vandalism, poverty, crime and even people attacking each other in the street for just looking at them the wrong way. Thank Lefty politics did that! It won't be too many more years before British people are fleeing the mess you are creating just so you can feel morally superior and not at all racist

Well pop off back to the USA. You are exactly the type of mindset we don’t want in the UK.

Oh look, the thread police is here.

[quote supermoonrising]@StoneofDestiny
775 rooms in Buckingham Palace alone surrounded by 40 acres

It would be a huge PR win for them if they did it. They won’t of course, not in a million years.[/quote]
It's not their private residence.
Now Sandringham and Balmoral on the other hand......(although you wouldn't want to bump into a certain bloke at Balmoral..)

A lot of people who are homeless here have drink and drug problems. In part the reason they are homeless maybe? As there are plenty of schemes to get people off the streets. Whilst I do feel for those who are in the throes of addiction and self sabotage I would not want to have them living in my house. An Afghan refugee who is fleeing a war torn country? Yes, I would offer them a room as a temporary measure.