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British families should be given priority for council housing

Poll

Should British families get priority?

according to Margaret Hodge

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/politics/6673911.stm

Do you think this is a fair demand?

Reply 1

Socrates

17

Creates all the problems of defining "established British families".

However, the more important question is, what were her government doing about this apparent inequality for the last ten years?

Reply 2

masterofpuppets

Absolutely they should, no question about it.

Reply 3

Arminius

14

Why would a non-british family even be considered for council housing?

We need to define british really to answer this question properly.

Reply 4

Alasdair

14

Council housing allocation should be based on need, and nothing else. Not much more to say, really.

Reply 5

Thud

17

or we could build more council houses given the declining number since the Thatcher period, and the fact that those which do remain are becoming increasingly dilapidated?

Reply 6

ForeverIsMyName

15

As long as I don't have to care about poor people and I can continue in my role as oppressor of the workers, I don't mind that much :smile:

Reply 7

L i b

19

No, of course not, it's simply racist nonsense.

Reply 8

Thud

17

this is what i love about new labour...
"omg! our opposition is onto something, rather than tell people the truth let's just do that instead".

morons.

Reply 9

libertin

Depends on the definition of British and non-British. I think council houses should be allocated according to the needs of both British people and immigrants who have acquired the right to stay here forever. An African family with two children who are homeless should obviously be given the right over a newly married British couple who are currently with their parents.

Having said that, both of those examples should, in my view, have priority over immigrants who don't have the right to stay here indefinitely. I.e. temporary immigrants that will leave after so-many years or those who are awaiting deportation.

Reply 10

Arminius

14

who built the houses? who paid for their building through taxes?

Thats right. Our parents and grandparents. The houses are therefore the joint property of all british people and we have an equal right to live in them as any other british person.

If a family come here from Africa they have not invested into the system and thus should not be allowed to "withdraw" from it. British should come first as we are the ones that paid for and built them.

Obviously, imo. People should by and large not be alowed to migrate here from africa. So this situation is of labour's making.

Reply 11

Alasdair

14

So people with unemployed grandparents shouldn't be allowed council housing?

Reply 12

Agent Smith

11

who built the houses? who paid for their building through taxes?

Thats right. Our parents and grandparents. The houses are therefore the joint property of all british people and we have an equal right to live in them as any other british person.

If a family come here from Africa they have not invested into the system and thus should not be allowed to "withdraw" from it. British should come first as we are the ones that paid for and built them.

Obviously, imo. People should by and large not be alowed to migrate here from africa. So this situation is of labour's making.

Council houses are not the "joint property of all British people". Don't be such a Socialist. They are the property of whoever owns them, namely the local council. So any British citizen in that council's area of jurisdiction and needs a house gets one. Otherwise you end up with homeless second-generation immigrants sleeping on the steps of Cornwall County Hall because the council flats are full of Aberdonians.

Reply 13

libertin

Zebedee

who built the houses? who paid for their building through taxes?

Thats right. Our parents and grandparents. The houses are therefore the joint property of all british people and we have an equal right to live in them as any other british person.

If a family come here from Africa they have not invested into the system and thus should not be allowed to "withdraw" from it. British should come first as we are the ones that paid for and built them.

Obviously, imo. People should by and large not be alowed to migrate here from africa. So this situation is of labour's making.

Right, their parents and grandparents. What contribution has the young British married couple made? Or, borrowing your logic, what about the African family who came here in the 1960's and have paid taxes all their lives?

Why shouldn't African people be allowed to migrate here from Africa? Is it just Africans or should all non-British origns not be allowed to come here, including Americans and Australians?

Reply 14

Arminius

14

Thats what you lot don't understand (well most of you). We are a SOCIETY, in the social housing projects we have pooled our national resources to make homes for the people. Not for profit, not for individual gain but for our fellow man.

If a family have been hard working british folk for many, many years then they have a stake in british society and in our social housing. A new arrival has not invested into the system so they should not be allowed to withdraw from it.

Reply 15

Alasdair

14

You forget - Americans and Australians tend to be white. No rivers of blood from them...

Reply 16

Arminius

14

monsumo

Right, their parents and grandparents. What contribution has the young British married couple made? Or, borrowing your logic, what about the African family who came here in the 1960's and have paid taxes all their lives?

Why shouldn't African people be allowed to migrate here from Africa? Is it just Africans or should all non-British origns not be allowed to come here, including Americans and Australians?

I don't want to turn this into yet another immigration debate, its been done in other threads (some fairly current).

The young british couple have a right to the housing left for them by the previous geneation (their parents). It is their birthright, the legacy of their ancestors to them. If someone just arrives here then they have no stake in the society. That has to be earnt.

An "african" (as you put it) family that have lived here since the 60's should have entitlement because they have invested into the society aswell.

Reply 17

Arminius

14

i don't see how merit has immplications for social housing, its for people that cannot afford to own one isn't it.

Reply 18

Agent Smith

11

What has a newborn baby "invested into the system"? Why should they receive any healthcare?

Additionally, your argument of "leaving" housing for the next generation relies not on law (because you can't bequeath or inherit a council flat, and most people don't even do it with houses they own) but on some spurious notion of moral property - "we're here because we're here", in fact.