Shock statistic: some social housing tenants were born abroad
The Daily Mail ‘revealed’ last week that ‘500,000 immigrants have been given social housing in the last decade’. So what was shocking about that? This is no more than should be expected given what we have long known about the proportion of the UK population that were born abroad.
Housing clampdown could drive migrants into poor quality accommodation
Ministers claim the updated rules will reduce both exploitation and illegal immigration, but it seems unlikely they will have much effect on either.
Missing the point on migrants and housing
David Cameron’s plans to curtail migrants’ rights to social housing have the appearance of being thought up quickly and not thought through properly. There are much better ways to increase the availability of homes to UK-born applicants.
Simplistic view of social housing
Is it blindingly obvious that social landlords should sell off expensive properties to fund new house building? Not if you consider the unintended consequences and the better options offered by alternative strategies.
Local housing for local people?
It’s a bad idea to base policy on myth, and while there’s not enough social housing to go round the suspicion that foreigners get priority will persist. Local housing for local people may sound like good politics, but will it lead to good policy? It’s never a good idea to base a policy on a […]
John Perry lives in Masaya, Nicaragua where he works on