Immigrant housing grievance refuted

29 Nov 07
Claims that new immigrants take social housing away from long-standing residents have been refuted by a new study.

30 November 2007

Claims that new immigrants take social housing away from long-standing residents have been refuted by a new study.

According to the Joseph Rowntree Foundation research, people moving to the UK are more likely to move into poor-quality homes left behind or rejected by other households.

Last year, a government citizenship survey reported that the proportion of white people who believed they faced discrimination by local authorities and housing associations had risen from 15% to 21% between 2001 and 2005.

But the JRF research, published on November 26, found many new immigrants concentrated in areas that other residents prefer to avoid. The report, based on interviews with people recently arrived in Sheffield, adds that harassment and abuse are more common in neighbourhoods that are unused to accommodating diverse ethnic groups.

David Robinson, co-author of the report The housing pathways of new immigrants, said such people were rarely skilled players of the welfare system. 'They typically had little choice and few options about where they lived and were often making do in poor conditions,' he said. In spite of poor-quality housing, many immigrants developed an affiliation with the area where they first lived and opted to remain there.

PFnov2007

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