One in Twelve Social Houses Occupied by Foreign Nationals

October 27, 2010

Today's English Housing Survey provides further evidence of the pressure placed by immigration on the housing sector. Foreign nationals now occupy 8.4% of the social housing stock. Among occupants aged 16-40 that figure rises to 12.6%.

Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migrationwatch UK said "This finally destroys the myth that less than 2% of council and housing association tenants are recent immigrants. It further underlines the failure of the previous government to address the housing crisis despite encouraging massive levels of immigration".

Note to Editors:
In April 2008 the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) and the Local Government Association (LGA) published a study by the IPPR which claimed that less than 2% of social housing was taken up by foreign born people who arrived in the UK in the previous 5 years. That formulation was deeply misleading as today's figure illustrate.