9 April 2008 12:37

Publishing the facts about migration and social housing allocations sounded like a good idea when Trevor Phillips of the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) proposed it in November. It still is - but it may not be enough to combat the myths and fears surrounding the issue.

The EHRC and Local Government Association published interim research this morning headlining 'no evidence of bias against UK-born families in social housing allocation'. It said that 90% of people in social housing UK-born. Most new migrants to the UK over the next five years were not eligible and there was no evidence of queue-jumping over white families. About 11% of new migrants had been allocated social housing compared to 17% of UK-born residents and 18% of foreign-born residents.

But that does not stop today's Daily Mail from finding its own radically different take on the research. It reported: 'More than a million immigrants live in housing subsidised by the taxpayer, a Government-sponsored report disclosed yesterday. It said the number of foreigners in council or housing association accommodation had soared over the past five years. One in nine subsidised homes is now occupied by a migrant family.'

Two out of three housing managers surveyed for the research were convinced that high house prices were to blame for the shortage of social housing in their area. Only 6% nominated immigration.

But they also had one intriguing explanation for the gap between perception and reality that the Mail may find rather less convenient: the right to buy. About 60% of recent migrants live in the private rented sector, often in appalling conditions. Many of those private rented homes are social housing acquired under the right to buy. Who can blame local residents for believing they are still owned by the council?

Posted by Jules Birch, April 9

Posted in Migration, Social housing, Right to buy

20 February 2008 19:00

TODAY'S green paper on citizenship identifies access to housing as a key benefit that should continue to be denied to recent migrants. Public consultation revealed strong support for the idea that migrants should be making an economic contribution to the country and should be able to support themselves without access to social security benefits 'particularly in relation to local authority housing'.

The Home Office green paper attemtps to mitigate the effects of increased migration on local communities by proposing a new transitional impact fund financed by increased visa fees. The money would go to local authorities to spend on services like schools that are in heavy demand.

In housing terms there is little doubt where any extra money should go. As a report for the Migration Impact Forum revealed last month, the impact is overwhelmingly being felt in the private rented sector and is raising issues of overcrowding, poor conditions, accommodation tied to jobs and a growth in the number of houses in multiple occupation (HMOs).

Those issues were brought into the sharpest possible relief yesterday by Peter Holland, the chief fire officer for Lancashire. He told BBC news yesterday that fire brigades across Britain had reported blazes in HMOs. 'I'm seriously concerned that somewhere in the UK we're going to have a multiple fire death in a house of multiple occupation,' he said. 'The problem's been exacerbated by the influx of Eastern European migrants, who are moving into the highest risk properties that we have here in the UK, where we're already struggling to maintain fire precautions, and the problem's getting worse because of overcrowded conditions.'

Recent migrants are a readily explotiable market for unscrupulous landlords but enforcement of the regulations covering HMOs is patchy at best. Migrants should be making an economic contribution to Britain but they also deserve to live here safely. 

Posted by Jules Birch, Feb 20

Posted in Migration, Private renting

17 January 2008 15:28

EAST EUROPEAN migrants have taken just 1% of social housing, says The Guardian. Immigrants occupy one in 15 homes in England and even that may be an underestimate, says the Daily Mail.

Believe it or not, the two radically different stories are about the same thing - a housing report to the Migration Impacts Forum yesterday by Joanne Roney, executive director of Sheffield City Council. Both are accurate too. There are 1.5m foreign national households in England, including 570,000 owner-occupiers, 600,000 private renters and 310,000 social renters. And Housing Corporation data for local authorities and social renters shows that foreign nationals account for 5% of social lettings and recent migrants from EU accession states about 1%.

The debate about migration and social housing allocations is highly sensitive and will continue to be subject to myth and counter-myth and lurid headlines. That is why it is being investigated in more detail by the Local Government Association and Equality and Human Rights Commission. 

However, there is little doubt that the immediate priority area is not social housing but the private rented sector.

The issues include overcrowding, poor conditions, tied and prearranged housing and impacts on the wider neighbourhood of a growth in the number of HMOs. A survey of Polish and Lithuanian workers by the TUC found that 31% of them (and 40% of those working over 48 hours) were living in homes provided by their employer and in the kind of vulnerable conditions that had almost been eliminated from housing in this country.

That raises all kinds of issues about enforcement and regulation and resources in that perennial poor relation of local authority departments, private sector housing. And it should be near the top of the agenda of the forthcoming government review of the private rented sector.  

Posted by Jules Birch, Jan 17

Posted in Migration, Private renting, Social housing

2 November 2007 19:21

THERE ARE two slightly odd things about the call by Equality and Human Rights Commission chair Trevor Phillips for an inquiry into migration and social housing allocations yesterday. First, his own organisation's press release of his speech does not mention it. Second, he was speaking at an event launching a report that concludes that 'demand on social housing has, as yet, been low'.

The oddness is not surprising: nothing to do with the debate about allocations is quite what it seems. Just ask Margaret Hodge after the reaction she got when she raised the issue last year. The irony is that it is the rise in A8 migration from eastern Europe - and the inadequacy of official statistics - that has created the political space for and media interest in David Cameron's call for a 'grown-up debate' and Phillips's independent inquiry - even though current regulations are designed to exclude A8 nationals from social housing. 

But Phillips is still right - and the commission's own research shows that housing allocations are a major concern. An independent inquiry by dispassionate academics will at least establish the facts. Failing to do so merely leaves the way open for BNP propaganda.

In the meantime, migration is also raising issues that have nothing to do with allocations. Phillips was speaking at the launch for a report into the effects of migration on local communities for the Local Government Association [download PDF here] which shows that it is having a big impact on housing - but overwhelmingly in the private rented sector. Researchers noted cases of migrants:

* Living in over-crowded homes in poor repair, sometimes with a high fire risk
* Living in poor conditions in caravans or even sheds in back gardens
* Being unaware of their rights and having no tenancy agreement 
* Being exploited by employers who tie high-rent accommodation to jobs.
* Moving into areas with high housing vacancies in Rochdale and Stoke.

Only in Leicester and Southampton did researchers find evidence of an increase in the number of A8 nationals receiving homelessness assistance or being rehoused.

Posted by Jules Birch, Nov 2 

Posted in Migration, Social housing

24 October 2007 12:54

IT WILL take a while for the detailed numbers to be crunched but yesterday's increased population projections make it almost inevitable that the government will have to increase its 240,000 homes a year target for England.

This morning's newspapers - go here for the Guardian's coverage - concentrate on migration and the reasons why the Office for National Statistics is projecting that the UK population will rise by 10m over the next 25 years from 60.6m to 71.1m. However, they will also have profound implications for the household projections and for future levels of housebuilding and house prices.

It was only in March this year that the CLG increased the household projections for England from 209,000 to 223,000. This took into account increased 2004-based population projections and in turn triggered the housing green paper's target of  240,000 additional homes a year to deliver 2m new homes by 2016 and 3m by 2020.

Yesterday's population projections are 2006-based and envisage - on top of the previous projections - an extra 1.7m people in the UK by 2016 and an extra 4m by 2031. The population of England is proejcted to increase in line with that from 50.7m now to 54.7m in 2016, 56.8m in 2021 and 60.4m in 2031.

The household projections are based on detailed calculations of the nature, regional breakdown and composition of new households. But 1.5m extra people would have to be housed in England by 2016. If they needed 500,000 homes might that 240,000 target soon be looking more like 300,000?

Looking even longer term, the Optimum Population Trust think tank says that an extra 15m homes could be required over the next 75 years to accomodate a population of 85m by 2081.

The figures are of course only projections, but  the implications are not just long term. In a statement this morning, the Local Government Association say the ONS population data is 'woefully inadequate' for meeting local needs.  Because nobody knows where migrants are going, the extra money they generate is not being redistributed to the areas that need it.  The LGA says: 'The shortcomings of official population figures is placing pressure on services like education and housing and can even lead to unnecessary tension and conflict.'

Posted by Jules Birch, October 24 

Posted in Migration, Housebuilding