3 top takeaways from Inside Housing’s survey on social housing, allocations and immigration

Read the full article for more about the survey results, and how senior sector figures responded.

Here are the top takeaways from the findings.

1. Misinformation that immigrants are being prioritised for new homes is rife nationwide

The survey found that two-thirds of staff say they have – in real life – encountered factually inaccurate information along the lines of “all social housing is going to immigrants”, and 72% have encountered it online.

Respondents say that they receive many comments on social media about how new homes will go to immigrants over local people. Resident-facing staff say they’ve heard it from residents when out on their patch, or from members of the public at development consultation events.

Government figures show that only one in 10 new social tenancies in England goes to a non-UK national, and the 2021 census found that only 7% of social housing tenants across England and Wales had a non-UK passport. 

Many staff say their organisation is reluctant to engage in the issue, and this is particularly true for councils, who worry it will be a “vote-loser” as their electorate swings towards Reform.

One landlord in Merseyside shared its experience encountering misinformation, and how it tackled it. Read more about its approach here.

2. Many ethnic minority staff members are experiencing discrimination and negative sentiments from residents and colleagues related to their race, nationality and religion

Staff were candid about the way this misinformation is impacting them. Four in 10 minority ethnic staff had felt discrimination, prejudice or negative sentiment from residents/clients because of their ethnicity, race, immigrant background or religion in the past 12 months, rising to 55% among those not born in the UK.

Further, more than a third say they’ve experienced discrimination from colleagues at their organisation.

Almost two-thirds of minority ethnic staff say that they have felt fear because of their ethnicity, race, immigrant background or religion in the past year.

Read the full article for more detail on how these statistics vary for different ethnicities, and for those born outside of the UK, as well as personal stories from the staff impacted.

3. Some organisations are stepping up, but many staff want to see more

So how should organisations be responding? Many respondents shared positive examples of internal support, or of resident-facing work being done to tackle misinformation.

Read more about the work South Liverpool Homes has done to combat misinformation here.