Social Housing Continued.
JustinI think you may not have noticed my update on this under the previousthe previous thread. In the light of the "Tonight" programme which was transmitted on Monday at 20.00hrs, and reproduced on the Telegraph.co.uk website. You will see that Alan Johnson and others were out by 500% in their estimate of that only 1% of council housing is given to immigrants "You always hark back to the view that the lack of availability of council housing for local people is caused by immigrants jumping the queue. I don't believe that this is the case. In Barking, where Margaret Hodge is the MP, the Evening Standard investigations showed that no council housing had been given to recent immigrants in the last year. It is likely that this situation is mirrored in Hounslow. It would be very easy for you to prove me wrong but you don't seem to want facts to get in the way of your opinions". I am still of the opinion that we may never know the true figure, but giving 200,000 homes to immigrants in front of ALL of our citizens is completely wrong!200,000 'social homes' given to immigrants By Gary Cleland Telegraph.co.ukLast Updated: 1:58am BST 02/07/2007Five times more immigrants are given social housing than previously claimed, the Government has admitted.Just weeks ago ministers insisted only one per cent of social housing is given to immigrants, in an attempt to quell widespread fears that they are treated better by local authorities than people born in Britain.But after an investigation by ITV's Tonight With Trevor McDonald programme, the Government has admitted that 200,000 of Britain's social homes - five per cent of the total - were given to immigrants last year.There is a waiting list of 1.5 million for the four million social houses in Britain.Priority for houses is given to those most in need. Immigrant families cannot automatically be put to the top of the queue, but often fall into needy groups by being homeless or living in overcrowded accommodation.The Government's original figures were published on May 21 in the midst of a controversy surrounding an article by Margaret Hodge, then the industry minister, claiming British families had more right to social housing than new migrants.An internal Labour row saw then-deputy leadership hopefuls Alan Johnson and John Cruddas rebuke Mrs Hodge, with Johnson accusing her of using the "language of the BNP".However, the Government was yesterday forced to confirm that the five per cent figure claimed by the television report was correct. But it denied any intention to mislead, claiming it had simply updated its calculation system since May.A spokesman for the Department for Communities and Local Government said: "It is bizarre that people should criticise the government for carrying out further analysis."Unconvinced, Sir Andrew Green, of Migrationwatch UK, said: "If the Government doesn't know how many foreigners are in social housing they damn well ought to."
Andrew Michael John Atkinson ● 7067d1 Comments ● 7066d