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?

@Hellotoallmyfans

I'm not in favour of compulsory purchasing, but your analogy only works if that money removed from the bank account was exchanged for...er...money

I'm not sure what you mean? It could be used to pay for hotel/hostel accommodation for people could it not?
Owning accommodation as an investment is the same as having money in the bank, just probably a better investment. Why should we offer say, a £200k property for free which we need to enable us to earn a living/be able to retire when there are people with thousands/millions sat in the bank?

I'm asking the poster of the above statement if they would be happy to hand over their life savings to house refugees and homeless people? Seeing as they think others should essentially do the same, but with bricks and mortar? Not sure if you're being deliberately obtuse...

Because in your example, you're handing over money for nothing in return. In a compulsory purchase you're selling your house, for money. I'm not being deliberately obtuse - the two aren't the same.

Can I just check if that was meant to be humour?

i've been in a fair few too....they are not in tip top condition at all.....how would an Afghan family heat those rooms? winter is just around the corner....and they are creepy

Not as creepy as facing death in Afghanistan or slumming it in a mouldy, damp, cold 'typical' refugee accommodation.
Taxpayers are heating and staffing these properties daily, even when unoccupied - and it's scandalous.

As for getting food - there are kitchens in these palaces and charitable organisations can get food to them easily enough - no taxi down The Mall needed.

They aren't. BUT if you thin compulsory purchase is the same as selling something for genuine market value out of choice then you're kidding yourself. A better analogy would probably be "we'll take that £200k in your bank account and give you £50k". Still violates the very basis of trust that pins society together and makes us all still go to work every day, doesn't it?

@VioletSand

They aren't. BUT if you thin compulsory purchase is the same as selling something for genuine market value out of choice then you're kidding yourself. A better analogy would probably be "we'll take that £200k in your bank account and give you £50k". Still violates the very basis of trust that pins society together and makes us all still go to work every day, doesn't it?

This was @snowballer

Architects images of refugee accommodation that can be built in a day. Pop them up on royal acres - countless thousands of acres!

And I think the PP's point is that that is a very slippery slope, which leads nowhere good for anybody.

www.theguardian.com/society/2020/sep/27/housing-crisis-planning-converting-office-blocks-homes-catastrophe-jenrick

"It's like an open prison’: the catastrophe of converting office blocks to homes
A policy designed to open up the planning system has left thousands in tiny flats, far from schools and shops. And with more deregulation coming, things will get worse"

@StoneofDestiny

Architects images of refugee accommodation that can be built in a day. Pop them up on royal acres - countless thousands of acres!

This is not a bad plan for the huge swathes of unpopulated areas that are not natural parks etc. But the people there still need schools, GPs, shops etc and to somehow integrate into UK life to move on from these places and become members of our society. This looks like a way to make a permanent ghetto?

BUT if you thin compulsory purchase is the same as selling something for genuine market value out of choice then you're kidding yourself.

I don't.

I just pointed out it wasn't the same as being forced to hand over money for nothing. The poster's "see how that works?" bit needed a bit of challenge, as it wasn't a fair comparison.

As a temporary solution to get them to safety, fine. But it's not going to work long term is it!

@snowballer

BUT if you thin compulsory purchase is the same as selling something for genuine market value out of choice then you're kidding yourself.

I don't.

I just pointed out it wasn't the same as being forced to hand over money for nothing. The poster's "see how that works?" bit needed a bit of challenge, as it wasn't a fair comparison.

Fair enough. I think - as is often the case - the truth lay somewhere between your post and theirs.

@gardeninggirl68 Because people calling for more social housing also need to be calling for improvements in it. Four years post Grenfell there is still no accountability. Everyone has the right to a decent safe home no matter what. Eddie Daffarn once said Grenfell 2 is in the post.

@MobyDicksTinyCanoe

Its always seemed bizarre to me that people from the EU have always been able to come over whether they're skilled or not and yet people fleeing actual war and death cant just rock up here. . I know that's how the EU worked. I'm not that thick. But priorities seemed skewed to me when one group has an actual need but the other just has a want. If it came to it and we had to bale people out to house people in genuine need then it makes more sense to return members of the EU who have been here for less than 3 years or whatever than those who have a desperate need.

It’s really not that bizarre or difficult to understand. The UK had a reciprocal arrangement with the EU where Uk citizens could go live any where in the the largest trading bloc economy in the world (EU) and EU citizens could do the same. Accepting refugees is not a reciprocal economic arrangement. It’s a humanitarian one. There is no like for like £ benefit. And like it or not, all decisions have to be paid for somehow.

@StoneofDestiny

Architects images of refugee accommodation that can be built in a day. Pop them up on royal acres - countless thousands of acres!

Not great for integration. Nor are the palaces. There's a happy medium between the worst local accommodation and just confiscating royal estate to even things out. You risk creating glorified refugee camps. Integrating refugees in average local housing stock, in small groups, is likely to have better outcomes. Divisive policies like reconsidering current council allocation or commandeering palaces or second homes would not help integration or community relations. And aren't necessary.

Appreciate the sentiment, though.

@StoneofDestiny

i've been in a fair few too....they are not in tip top condition at all.....how would an Afghan family heat those rooms? winter is just around the corner....and they are creepy

Not as creepy as facing death in Afghanistan or slumming it in a mouldy, damp, cold 'typical' refugee accommodation.
Taxpayers are heating and staffing these properties daily, even when unoccupied - and it's scandalous.

As for getting food - there are kitchens in these palaces and charitable organisations can get food to them easily enough - no taxi down The Mall needed.

I think they may like some control over their lives....a staffed palace etc and donated food for the first few days whilst they settle....but long term? Travelling to appointments,education, medical needs.... hardly workable.

These people will be traumatised and not exactly used to sprawling palaces. I think we would all find that daunting. Then they would face the inevitable backlash from the public.

Agree, @Fangdango.

@VioletSand

As a temporary solution to get them to safety, fine. But it's not going to work long term is it!

I agree and have said the same

They will need to keep life simple without having to negotiate long journeys ( expensive) for a loaf of bread

If it's just women and children then the women start off life in a new country as a LONE parent!

@StoneofDestiny

Buckingham Palace, Sandringham, Windsor, Balmoral, Kensington Palace etc etc - loads of spare rooms that lie empty most of the year. A great use for them

Bagshot Park (where the Wessexes live) reportedly has 120 rooms. Seems a bit excessive for a family of 4. They could fit a few extra people in, no problem.

@Wheretoeattweenandteen

Wow, I didn't realise so many eu nationals here!

5.6 million,

20 000 refugees in genuine need pales into insignificance

There are not. There were approximately 3 million EU nationals living here pre-2016. Many fewer now. There are far more non-British people here who are citizens of non-EU countries. Also Britain has the highest number of British immigrants living in other countries out of any other country in the EU even before 2016. Since then many people who'd moved to Britain from abroad have left and many more British citizens have fled Britain, so the ratio is even higher now.

I agree, however, that we should always help refugees and the bizarre "arguments" against it (that I only ever see on social media) are really upsetting and disturbing. I hope none of us are ever in need and need other people to help us if we cannot do this. We have a long, long history as a country of protecting refugees and it's disgusting that people like Farage have demonised this basic level of humanity.

In a compulsory purchase you're selling your house, for money

As violetsands said, you would get nowhere near what your property was worth and maybe the analogy I made wasn't perfect but I think everyone knows what I'm saying - maybe a better analogy would be saying if you have a spare room you should be ok with a family coming me living in it and you being paid a peppercorn rent by the government? Or if you live in a 3 bed house and only use two bedrooms we will compulsorily purchase it and give you a two bed worth less? The properties we own are what we have worked all our lives for and occasionally some of them lie empty until we can get the right tenant. It irks me when people seem to think landlords/second home owners are rich twats who should have everything they've worked for taken away. The point I was making is that, to us, the properties we own are OUR money in the bank same as someone who may have savings.

I realise you said you don't personally agree with it - I'm just trying to get others to understand why it wouldn't be fair or work in the real world.

@Sarahlou63

*To whom?

Are most of the refugees from Afghanistan male?*

FFS. They are human. Just like you aspire to be.

Totally fine for people to ask you to it take a random strange man into your home

I have a one bed flat that's going to bed vacated by my tenant soon. How would I let anyone know that it's available? More than happy to house a couple in there.

odd that you think these refugees will not come with money. at this point many who leave will be wealthy and educated. the first to leave in times of crisis are not the poor. many of these men and women will form part of what is called the "brain drain". so your fear of "where will they live" might be unfounded.
with recent pandemic deaths i'm sure there is space.

I agree and have said the same

They will need to keep life simple without having to negotiate long journeys ( expensive) for a loaf of bread

If it's just women and children then the women start off life in a new country as a LONE parent!

Why would it just be women and children? Women fleeing with their families should be forced to leave their husbands behind? Often the man might be at increased risk due to supporting UK/ US troops with trying to establish the previous Government. Any older male siblings over 18 should be left there, alone?

What a bizarre and callous comment.