The Student Room Group

Immigrant families to wait for at least two years to get on council housing list

Scroll to see replies

Reply 1
Sounds sensible, i'd only ever emigrate if I had the financial stability to support myself initially while I tried to find a job, that is how it should be.
Reply 2
Sound policy. Needs to be carefully implemented, however.
Reply 3


Won't really be a major issue since most migrants are not part of 'families'. This is not the 19th century any more. The migrant population is dominated by flexible young men who are quite able to rent in the private sector.

I doubt they would wish to be housed in some rural backwater away from where all the economic action is anyway.
(edited 11 years ago)
Good.
Reply 5
Good policy, now slow the flow :wink:
Reply 6
If you go to Liverpool that's usually the amount of years UK citizens have to wait to get a council property.
As a leftie I have to say this is a simple enough way to try and tackle immigration, I'd like to see this being allocated so that an immigrant in work, but isn't paid enough to cover private renting would get it ahead of a local who doesn't work. However if it's simply competition between the increasing unemployed for it, no objection to seeing locals getting an advantage.
Discrimination is discrimination, whether you consider it the lesser evil or not.
Reply 9
"If it is going to make the difference and help us to stop people coming here who want to leech off the system, to put it in crude terms, without damaging our openness to talent then I completely support it"

Never thought I'd say this, but I agree with Boris Johnson.

..Wow. That felt weird.
Reply 10
Nothing wrong with the policy, its perfectly fair to those who have been residing in the UK and genuinely have been providing something back and have a long term future which is good.

What I don't get is why most other higher end members of the EU have had this, but we are just getting it. Someone should have really thought about it and it makes so much sense you don't let someone new in front of a queue when they have been waiting for so long.
(edited 11 years ago)
Reply 11


Not long enough. I'd make them wait ten years.
Well according to the article itself only 9% of new lettings go to foreign nationals (this document gives 8% for all social housing) when they make up 12% of the UK population, so if we go by this alone than immigrants are actually less likely than British nationals to apply for council housing anyway. So other than placating tabloid hysteria, I don't really see what the point in this proposal actually is.

Also when discussing a shortage of council housing for British people, it's interesting to note that the 308,000 homes occupied by foreign nationals pale in comparison to the 1.2 million sold off to the private sector in the past 10 years.
Reply 13


Good idea, but not far reaching enough in my opinion.

I suspect that Labour and the libs will fight even this small measure, as they have every other one in the past.

My only comfort in all this, is that every time the main parties fail to act in immigration, UKIP become more powerful. So there is hope for us yet.
Reply 14
Original post by anarchism101
Discrimination is discrimination, whether you consider it the lesser evil or not.


Not discriminating against anything....
Original post by dj1015
Not discriminating against anything....


It's discrimination against immigrants, i.e. those who by luck were born on a different patch of land. In fact, that's the point of it.
Reply 16
I don't think this policy will prove to be enforcable for the majority of people.
What about migrant families from countries ripped apart by war.
The children are the people who will be affected by this policy. Families are already being detained in Harmonsworth etc.
If seems unfair to the ordinary UK citizen (waiting for housing), but this policy could violate the rights of the child.
many families come to the UK following relatives who are already installed.
If we want to stop migration we should use border control, but I think this is against EU policy
Reply 17
Original post by anarchism101
It's discrimination against immigrants, i.e. those who by luck were born on a different patch of land. In fact, that's the point of it.


But not on our patch of land. Therefor, should not been entitled to what British citizens are.

If we just open our doors to the whole world, this country would fall apart. However it is doing that anyway.
Reply 18
Why are they allowed on it at all? You don't move to a country just to go into social housing...
Original post by Skip_Snip
Good policy, now speed up the flow


Fixed. :wink:

Quick Reply

Latest