Do immigrants and asylum seekers get housed first?
Immigrants or asylum seekers from outside Europe are specifically excluded from any ‘recourse to public funds’ and this includes housing and benefits. Only asylum seekers who have been accepted as genuinely fleeing violence or torture may be given indefinite leave to remain in the UK. They can then work or apply for housing if they are eligible. The same rules apply to them as apply to anyone else. Don’t believe the racist lies of the BNP and tabloids. Have asylum seekers got all the housing? It’s important to look at the facts, not the hype. Across the country, asylum seekers granted indefinite leave occupy less than 2% of council and housing association properties. The main reasons for getting housed by the council are relationship breakdown and parental eviction, not immigration, and the biggest share of social housing goes to elderly people. So why was my friend turned away by the council? There simply isn’t enough social housing to go around. Successive governments have left it to
