Why Are Eastern Europeans In England Given Preference To Social Housing?

[anotheoldgit]

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/611711/Social-housing-Eastern-Europeans-England

[dave50]

There is a huge waiting list in this country for social housing so therefore any immigrant should be put to the back of that queue, it's perfectly simple. If there are some who are getting social housing then it's obvious they have jumped the queue.

[SirOracle]

Naomi ....Surely every Council operates a " Points" system,which takes into account various factors,and the highest no. of points gets to "bid" for the vacant property.

I don't think that ethnicity is a factor in points calculations. Length of time living in the area certainly does.

[ummmm]

It doesn't work like that, Dave! Like SirO says it's a points system.

[EDDIE51]

Your article actually says on line 15, '' 91% of social housing is let to UK nationals!''
How is that giving priority to East Europeans???
Do you actually read what you post?
I think you are getting confused with line 5 that says
''61% of homes that went to these (Eastern European) nationals, came from housing associations''.
Which has nothing to do with the overall situation it just reflects the % of social housing that is owned by housing associations rather than other providers.

[naomi24]

SirOracle, yes, I think Councils do operate a points system, but if immigrants are taking precedence over others I'm not sure length of time living in an area is taken into account. It must be pretty galling for people who've been waiting to be housed for some time to see newcomers getting first offer.

[SirOracle]

Naomi....I think that the length of time living in an area is very important in the accumulation of points.

[ummmm]

It's a catch 22 as well. Lots of people wanting/needing social housing do so because they've fallen on hard times and have, or are about to be, evicted. You're not entitled to social housing while you have rent arrears.

[naomi24]

SirOracle, Is it? Retrochic's man got a house after only 6 months in the country. I tend to think circumstances are what build points rather than time.

[chelle7272]

Length of stay does, to apply for social housing in Bristol you have to have lived there for at least 2 years.

[chelle7272]

*does affect entitlement I meant

[naomi24]

Lucky for Retrochic's man he doesn't live in Bristol.

[SirOracle]

Here in Edinburgh there are "bad" areas and locals do not "bid" for a house in these areas. New comers to the city,from whatever source,do "bid"for a house in these areas,and as there are only a few people interested the chances of success are high.

[Svejk]

I suppose it goes something like this; indigenous person spends years on waiting list while living with parents. Immigrant rocks up, no parent or whatever, gets priority.

[naomi24]

^Sounds feasible. Not fair - just feasible.

[Svejk]

Not just parents, of course. Could be sub standard housing, flat/house becomes too small because of increasing family size. Whatever, they'll get pushed down the ladder by people turning up with nowhere to live.

[SirOracle]

Doesn't work that way Svejk.
The points system SHOULD take care of this.
Bad cases don't make good laws.

[Gromit]

The figures in the Express link prove nothing. 91% of lets went to British people.

Of the remaining 9%, we are told >10K went to Europeans.
We ate not told what % went to non Europeans, but obviously some do.

So it is completely spurious to claim they are being given tenancies instead of British people. You are accusing them of discrimination without a shred of evidence.

[Hypognosis]

How many points do they get if they can prove they are sleeping under railway arches or "bed in a shed" arrangements in someone's back garden.

Someone living with parents is warm, dry, fed regularly, inconvenienced only in the partying & rumpo departments. Councils would love to interfere with our ability to reproduce. Perhaps they want to spur people in that kind of trap to get educated and be more middle class, in homes of their own?

[ummmm]

Hypo...you need an address.

[Hypognosis]

@gromit

but the point, such as it is, that they are (probably) trying to make is that 100% of these homes would be going to British-born people and there would be a shorter queue, if immigrants were either not here at all or put in a purely chronological place in the queue.

If the accusations are specifically that leap-frogging is occurring, this needs to be investigated. The fact that people *suspect* this is happening is just fuelling the anti-immigrant rhetoric.

"91% this, 9% that" does not adequately dismiss the possibility that leap-frogging is occurring. What proof would you like other debaters to provide?