AIBU to ask if the plan to 'prioritise British families' for social housing is an attack on asylum seekers or a long overdue reform?

[Locutus2000]

The Grauniad (again, sorry)

Highlights:

Downing Street wants to give UK families higher priority for social housing in a controversial scheme that will be badged as “British homes for British workers”, the Guardian can reveal.

Polly Neate, chief executive of the housing charity Shelter, said: “This policy amounts to nothing more than scapegoating at its worst. It is unnecessary, unenforceable and unjust. Not only does it ignore the fact that there are already stringent rules so only UK citizens or those with settled status can access homes for social rent, but it blames a group of people for a housing emergency that they did not create.”

Under current rules, local housing authorities are meant to decide social housing allocation based on need, giving priority to those who are homeless or living in overcrowded or squalid conditions. Refugees are allowed to claim social housing, but anyone who is not entitled to benefits is not, meaning most foreigners in the UK are already excluded.

Ministers could also seek to strengthen the rules introduced by the Brown government so that people have to show they have stronger or longer connections to an area before being given priority for housing.

It just seems like dog-whistling to the faction incensed by 'foreigners' taking all the social housing. Equally, there is sod all social housing left and I can understand people's frustration. My elderly neighbours are still bitter about being 'pushed out' of London and perceive this to be a result of immigration.

I can see this being a popular policy even if based on a dubious perception.

• Note from MNHQ: Title has been edited at the OP's request to include the words 'for social housing'.

@greengreengrass25 yes it's irresponsible to have 7 kids in a 3 bed house, I agree. And I explained many times that by having a child every couple of years in a 3 bed meant that the tenant was making themselves intentionally overcrowded, but that's another story.

This is the problem. I worked in housing and many people who grew up in social/council housing have a massive sense of entitlement. Eg a woman got a new build 2 bed flat after having 1 dc. Within 6 years she had 5dc. She was down screaming on a regular basis after dc3 about how the council have a duty to rehouse her as they are overcrowded and it's affecting her mental health and her dc have behavioural problems. It was a disgrace, against her human rights and she was suicidal blah blah blah. There were so many like this, they felt zero responsibility for their own housing situation, it was their right to have as many dc as they wanted and council had to deal with it. The council can't magic up properties that aren't there.
The chronically disabled and those working should have priority. Why should a non working person (who isn't sick) get a low cost home?

Yes I agree, it's not right

I bet you felt like telling them so

It makes a mockery out of those families who want to work, need housing but aren't high earners.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/gift/17615f4d1a878e36 even more hotels and housing was required without the public knowing

but it blames a group of people for a housing emergency that they did not create.”

I think this language is interesting and I see it a lot in discussions like this.

I believe it's actually a very subtle attempt to push the discussion in a certain direction. Because, of course it's not the "fault" of foreigners that the housing situation is what it is - that is objectively true.

But it's not really the point. The point, as I understand it, is that the naturalized population should be given first consideration for housing. Others need to get it through other avenues, or perhaps if the government is set on having them, it will prompt them to build more social housing or look at other models.

I think with housing there is an issue that in many countries, there is a group of people on the bottom of the social and economic totem pole who it is very easy to ignore, and displace when they are inconvenient. And if those people aren't prioritised, they end up with nothing. To say this isn't to "blame" any other group, it's not the fault of newcomers, or even middle class people.

But no place should be welcoming additional workers or anyone else in if it will mean infrastructure is inadequate for all the people who are already there. Which, btw, includes other people who used to be newcomers.

You can be foreign born and be British.

No, you can’t. You may have citizenship but you will never be British.

Says who?
That's just nativist BS. I know many foreign born Brits and I would defy you to guess that they're first generation.

This should have always been the case and then maybe we wouldn’t be in such as mess and the people here could afford to have a family

I worked for a while in a large village.
Around 8 council houses were built, I heard 3 went to people fairly recently arrived from Eastern Europe who had declared as homeless and were Band A top priority.There was anger as some local people had been waiting on the housing list for years and had lived in this village for decades.

Long overdue reform.

Why on earth should British families not be prioritised?

I'm not surprised people were furious!

At first I was sceptical of the story, but had it verified by several people . One person who wasn’t rehoused was renting privately, had parents living locally and had been born and brought up in this place.

Ahem, Labour had IIRC fourteen years in which to scrap Right to Buy, but they didn’t.
Why was that, I wonder? Could it possibly be because they thought it’d lose them votes?

Could you explain what IS happening then, because it certainly does look as if migrants are being allocated social housing ahead of those on the council list?

If I moved to Australia and got my Australian citizenship, I wouldn’t be Australian, I would still be British. If I had children, they would be Australian, technically, but would be British Australians.

@Allseeingallknowing

"Could you explain what IS happening then, because it certainly does look as if migrants are being allocated social housing ahead of those on the council list?"

Where did you see this? Who are you referring to when you say 'migrants'? Immigrants? So anyone not born in the UK?

My understanding is that social housing is generally allocated on the basis of both need and also on the basis of length of time on housing list, as well as on housing preference - so you're more likely to get a social home sooner rather than later depending on the type of property an applicant someone's applied for. And that every local authority has its own system for allocation.

@GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER

Why was that, I wonder? Could it possibly be because they thought it’d lose them votes?

You mean force through an unpopular policy which might have brought the Tories and their 'right to buy' policies straight back in at the next election?

From the posts on here, for a start! I meant illegal migrants.

Why should the North have them? They already take enough!

This is a really old thread guys.

I don't think it is quite a straightforward as that - the Polish family are economic migrants and arguably if you are migrating to enjoy a better life/standard of living you should be prepared to do so without taking benefits from the new state in terms of housing etc etc. Not saying that I necessarily agree with that but there will be those who look at the UK army veteran who is sleeping rough and ask why he has lower priority than a family that chose to move here for economic reasons (rather than persecution). Bear in mind that their improved lifestyle in the UK comes at a cost to the NHS, the Department of Education etc too.

I may get flamed for this but I am going to say it anyway.... It is often the case that those coming to the UK as refugees/asylum seekers come from cultures where it is normal to have more children than in the UK. The larger the family the "more in need" they will be and therefore the higher up the list they will come. Again some will ask why the nurse who is a single mother of two who were all born here as UK citizens should be a lower priority than a family with four children who only arrived in the last couple of years.

Yes I agree with you.

economic migrants should not have precedence over people on the housing list who are UK residents.

I don’t understand why this has been allowed to happen

That's only your subjective perception of what your own identity is. Once you're a citizen, that's it. The state couldn't care less how you feel about your heritage.