December 10, 2014
New measures requiring private landlords to check the immigration status of prospective tenants started to come into force on 1 December. CIH policy adviser John Perry explains why we are working with a range of organisations to assess the impact. The question in the title of this blog was posed by ‘accidental landlord’ Victoria Whitlock […]
Category: Housing, Migration | Tags: private rented sector, migration policy, immigration checks
December 2, 2014
Under pressure from Jeremy Paxman on Newsnight in February 2003, Tony Blair conceded that the number of asylum seekers coming to Britain was too high and pledged to halve them by the following September. The promise was widely derided, but Blair had done his homework: officials had assessed the impact of Labour’s 2002 Asylum Act, […]
Category: Housing, Migration | Tags: private rented sector, migration policy, housing benefit, migration statistics, immigration checks |
February 11, 2014
When even the immigration minister struggles to enforce the rules, what chance do private landlords have? Mark Harper’s difficulty in getting to grips with his own immigration rules should give all parties pause for thought. Is it really sensible to extend the checks imposed on employers so that even trickier ones have to be carried […]
Category: Housing, Migration | Tags: immigration checks, private rented sector, migration policy, housing benefit, housing market
July 29, 2013
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.
Category: Housing, Migration | Tags: private rented sector, migration statistics, allocations
July 8, 2013
The letting of over four million private properties will be subject to immigration checks if the Home Secretary has her way. But will landlords accept this blatant attempt to saddle them with responsibility for controlling immigration, with stiff penalties if they slip up?
Category: Housing, Migration | Tags: private rented sector, migration policy
May 15, 2013
Ministers claim the updated rules will reduce both exploitation and illegal immigration, but it seems unlikely they will have much effect on either.
Category: Housing, Migration | Tags: allocations, private rented sector, migration policy, homelessness
March 4, 2013
Home ownership among young adults is declining fast as an unwilling ‘generation rent’ takes over. But could the government be doing more to help?
Category: Housing | Tags: council housing, private rented sector, homeownership
June 19, 2012
Grant Shapps’ campaign to tackle “beds in sheds” has already provoked a lot of comment, much of it pointing out that the issue is not confined to migrants. In Newham, we now know of a tenant reportedly living in a walk-in freezer.
Category: Migration | Tags: homelessness, private rented sector
March 12, 2012
The latest homelessness figures show that rising rents, constraints on housing benefit and cuts to council budgets are all coming home to roost.
Category: Housing | Tags: homelessness, private rented sector, housing benefit
March 8, 2012
New arrivals in Britain are highly dependent on private lettings – whether bedsits, accommodation tied to their jobs or caravan sites. Recent migrants are three times more likely than the average person to be living in the private rented sector (PRS). Many endure poor conditions, irregular tenancies, overcrowding and even “hot bedding”, where tenants use […]
Category: Housing, Migration | Tags: private rented sector, housing