Post by Blackbyrd on Nov 29, 2007 17:56:53 GMT
Asylum Seekers and Housing
Scanned from the Guardian:
(my italics)
Scanned from the Guardian:
Migrant housing myths exposed[/]
Some of the enduring myths about immigration and social housing in the UK are debunked in a new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
The report on recently arrived Liberian, Pakistani, Polish and Somalian asylum seekers and migrant workers living in Sheffield reveals that instead of taking housing meant for British families, asylum seekers more often move into shoddy and unsafe social housing that nobody else wants. And while refugees and asylum seekers have the right of access to social housing, thiir ability to exercise choice over ' where they live is extremely limited.
Even compared to other disadvantaged groups, asylum seekers' ability to improve their housing situation, is severely curtailed by limited legal rights and poor understanding of the housing system. They are "rarely skilled players of the welfare system", the report says.
In Sheffield, clusters of asylum seekers were housed in mainly white, British, working-class estates on the edge of the city, with little or no history of accommodating ethnic diversity, which led to a "corrosive effect of racial harassment, problems of insecurity... poor conditions and overcrowding".
Migrant workers, thanks to their right to work, often quickly found rented private accommodation, and in the long-term were able to exercise more choice over where they lived.
AnnieKelly
The Housing Pathways of New lmmigrants: jrf.org.uk
Some of the enduring myths about immigration and social housing in the UK are debunked in a new report by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation.
The report on recently arrived Liberian, Pakistani, Polish and Somalian asylum seekers and migrant workers living in Sheffield reveals that instead of taking housing meant for British families, asylum seekers more often move into shoddy and unsafe social housing that nobody else wants. And while refugees and asylum seekers have the right of access to social housing, thiir ability to exercise choice over ' where they live is extremely limited.
Even compared to other disadvantaged groups, asylum seekers' ability to improve their housing situation, is severely curtailed by limited legal rights and poor understanding of the housing system. They are "rarely skilled players of the welfare system", the report says.
In Sheffield, clusters of asylum seekers were housed in mainly white, British, working-class estates on the edge of the city, with little or no history of accommodating ethnic diversity, which led to a "corrosive effect of racial harassment, problems of insecurity... poor conditions and overcrowding".
Migrant workers, thanks to their right to work, often quickly found rented private accommodation, and in the long-term were able to exercise more choice over where they lived.
AnnieKelly
The Housing Pathways of New lmmigrants: jrf.org.uk