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"There is no evidence that immigrants jump the housing queue, an authoritative report found today"

No the report is not authoritative, and convinces nobody except a hopelessly out of touch political establishment.People are not stupid and can see what is happening in social housing, and the more they are lied to the more alienated they will become.

- Tj, London

last year i volunteerd to go to Iraq with the Army, i gave up everything to serve this country of which i would do time and time again. I was a changed man when i came back. i was not injured out there but, after may tlast day of service and was due to return to work i found that i could not find work as i had sustained an injury that i was not aware of and split up with my partner. so to sum up i have lost the use of my left arm, i have no home cant find work , live by my wits and my survival skills as there is not enough housing, last bidding cicle there where only 5 properties for single people and over 150 peolple bidding on tthe three that i bid for . i still live by my witts and day today. it is now october this all happened in june. i'm still waiting. how many have been housed. i did not want to ask for help but i have no choice.. i still have not received a penny from the social even though i have put in a claim , so to all what about my rights as an indigenous english man. i dont have rights as i'm not a foreigner . baden powell was right, there will be rivers of blood if something is not done about the state of this country. its time we stood together to remember what our forefathers fought and died for. all that they sacrificed for us. this is how to government has repaid them

- Peed Off., kent,,great foreign

Trevor Phillips is the Chairman - Yes really!!!!

- Hank Nivram, HULL, England

Mark Lee said

"This report confirms what I've suspected for a long time - housing shortages have nothing to do with migrants, and everything to do with councils not building enough homes to replace those sold off via right to buy."

It has to do with both, however as regards Council building projects go the properties they sold under RTB were hugely discounted and they could probably only probably build two for every four sold. The other problem is the availability of land. There was hardly any then and there's less now as councils moved away from from high rise and back to single story of two story dwellings.

As regards migrants, the vast majority of them have made themselves intentionally homeless in their own country to come to the UK yet they are still allowed to get on the housing list. If I made myself intentionally homeless there is no way I would get on the list. Medway Council list has over 50% non UK born people on it and the recent fire at Camberwell confirms exactly what people already know is that immigrants can and do get council housing before the locals.

p.s. You didn't used live in East Dulwich did you?

- Mark, South-East London

Time to get the government OUT of the housing business.

- Trunk, US

I went to my housing office 13 years ago and was refused when I handed in my form by peron on front desk, i said to this person you dont know my circumstances. (I am white)Got a letter back and in 3 months was housed on health grounds. All of my friends have moved out of London as they cant afford to buy or have been refused housing. I lived on estate for 12 years and just moved out as every flat/house that is empty is being given to foreigners and somalians. Also in London there are housing associations that give priority to ethnic minority. In part of London I live it is a fact that white people are ethnic minority yet if they had housing association saying priority to white people there would be uproar.

- Jen, London

These figures are APPALLING.

We are told that the sole reason for this massive immigration
is that - apparently - it helps the economy.

Yet, by the above, 36% of arrivals in the last 5 years live in publicly
funded housing. SO WE PAY FOR THEM TO BE HERE.

After 5 years we are STILL paying for 16% (1 in 6) of them.

- Andrew, London, UK

If you have not contributed to the taxes of the country for a minimum period of £5 years (perhaps more) there should be no priority.

As is pointed out, a number of immigrants are flouting the rules by not claiming sanctuary in the first country arrive in.

Why, the benefits here are more generous and easier to get.

Better that they stay in their country and get their politicians to change things to make life easier and safer for them.

For those who are in favour of the present application of housing pay for it and let the others opt out and have their money forcibly taken from them applied for the locals who have made a positive contribution to the country, and I do not mean the 'baby' producers for the purpose of jumping the queue and earning a living because of their fecundity. If you want babies, you should be able to provide for them, not get others to provide the wherewithal.

Those who have not contributed and in social housing and on benefit and here from abroad should be made to return to their point of origin, and that includes those here seeking treatment.

Just as we are having to reduce the demands of the public sector we need to reduce the demands made on limited and overstretched resources because the taxpayers 'pips' are already 'squeaking'! to borrow from Dennis Healey, Labour chancellor.

- Hugh, Middx

Firstly, I don't believe for one minute that the two percent figure is correct. It is a NuLiebour figure and will be a very carefully manipulated and misleading statistic.
Secondly, there shouldn't be any immigrants in our social housing. If economic migrants can't afford to live here independant of state funding, they shouldn't be allowed entry.
As for asylum seekers; they should ALL be held in secure accommodation until their claims have been validated. All failed asylum seekers should be summarily deported. Those who destroy their documentation or refuse to cooperate should be DNA profiled and sent back to their most likely country of origin.
Blighty is full, and we are skint. We cannot afford to continue placing the need and want of the rest of the world before that of our own, and I suspect that the overwhelming majority don't want to.

Juliet Birmingham- what a load of tripe! Suggest you get back to NuLiebour head office and apply for some remedial spinmeister training.

- Keith Lonsdale, Doncaster

Iv'e got CSE Grade 5 OR O'Level statistics and even I could drive a lorry load through those results.

- Tim, London

Joe (Swanley)- there clearly is a case of swine 'flew' going round Swanley, Kent - or perhaps you've taken too many hallucinogenic drugs recently.

- Lionel, London

Instead of mewling about black people, perhaps we should only offer free houses to people who have made the effort to contribute to the economy by getting a job, getting educated or working voluntarily? girls who get themselves pregnant at 16 need not apply. If we followed this policy I predict that 100% of families in social housing would be black - because it's our white population who except free everything that is ruining this country.

- Sj, London

Like a Labour think tank can be trusted? They are the ones trying to hide the truth about THEIR immgration problem and policies. More left spin.

- Dirk Diggler, Soho, London

Reading this article is like saying,
"I swear it that I saw a pig flying in the sky again today".

- Joe, Swanley Kent

This county is too small for the number of people living in it, regardless of who they are.

Should we adopt Chinese monoculturalism, resort to one child per faimly regardless; and in migration terms only let in the same number of people who leave, and not their families, extended or otherwise.

Finaly As we cannot be the first port of call for any refugee, because nearly all will go through Europe, unless they stow away on an aircraft, all asylum claims must be refused !

- Pablo, London

The same reports states:

One in ten state-subsidised homes is occupied by an immigrant family. The first estimate of the impact of immigration on social housing means nearly 400,000 homes have gone to tenants who were born abroad.

More than half of the immigrants who live in council or housing association houses and flats are in London.

Four out of ten of those born abroad who live in the capital are living in subsidised housing - which equates to around one million immigrant family members.

Some migrant groups, the report said, were highly dependent on social housing because their families had higher numbers of children and were more likely to be without work. They included families from Afghanistan, Somalia and Bangladesh.

These figures published by the Equality Commission yesterday are based on the large-scale Labour Force Survey run by the Government's Office for National Statistics.

Just goes to show there is more than one way to skin a cat. These figures are produced by one Lefty-Loony government organisation and 'manipulated' by another Lefty-Loony government organisation.

Is it safe to believe the figures? I don't think so!

- Frank, Home Counties, England.

Jim Brown - if someone wants to claim asylum, they are supposed to do it in the first safe country they arrive in. This gives them a choice of at least 10 countries, before they reach Britain. But they don't stop, because they know they'll get a nice house here, and a weekly allowance courtesy of hard working folk like me.

It's people with an attitude like yours who have ruined this country.

- Jock, London

These figures are three years out of date anyway!

- Pete, Monmouth

Hmmm, let's see, as I walk through the streets of wapping(east london)towards ocean estate, do I choose to believe this report or do I believe my lying eyes which tells me that everyone living around this area is of bangladeshi origin?

- Gary, London

I think two per cent is two per cent too many.

- Steve, London

Immigrants, Immigrants, Immigrants

You'd never think British people moved to another part of the world - where did the 'British Empire' come from?

Australia/New Zealand/South AFrica/Kenya/Canada etc etc

- Greg, London

As a Pole I don't know personally any country man living on benefits or in council flats. On the other hand there are plenty of Brits CHOOSING to live just like that. Generally speaking the whole idea of social housing is ridiculous.

- Bart, Southampton

Percentages are meaningless. How many homes, in absolute terms, funded by the tax payer, go to those who have contributed nothing to the economy. The same number as are not available for UK citizens who, if nothing else, have a birth right to housing even if, for whatever reason, they have not contributed to the economy by working.

By the way Giles of London; if you cannot come up with a cogent argument for your cause, please don't resort to cheap shots at those who do not agree with you - it is pathetic.

- Mike, Southampton

I think a lot of people are confused. Asylum seekers can't jump the council's queue because they are not allocated a home by the council. They are allocated a home by the Border and Immigration Agency. Priority for housing is based solely on need not nationality. No asylum seekers are given a say over where they live and are not allowed to work. They roam the streets in 'packs' as they fear attacks from UK citizens who are ignorant to their situation. People who say their estates are 'full of them' really need to know individuals situations before they can judge. Immigrants can't skip the queue and are over here to work so I don't see what the problem is.
Once the Home Office has allowed asylum seekers to stay they become refugees and can work. Those whose cases are not deemed serious enough are sent home. If they feel in danger they run away and become illigal immigrants. What would you do in their position? I wouldn't want to go back to a country I know I would be persecuted in. We should be proud as UK citizens of the help we give people who need it, regardless where they come from, not jealous. UK citizens are given every chance to make the most of their lives, we have an excellent education and to be frank those that take advantage of it shouldn't need to be on 'the list' in the first place! I agree with other comments left that our problem start much closer to home and we should look towards irresponsible teen mothers, thieving politicians and bad parents.

- Juliet, Birmingham

Has it occured to anyone that the immigrants they are talking about are, mainly, people who have come over here as refugees -- people who cannot live in their country of origin due to persecution and fear for their lives?

Where are they going to live? They were not as lucky as people born in Britain have been to have been born in a democratic society where individual rights and freedoms are respected.

The people these immigrants are being compared with are people born in Britain, who have had the opportunity to have good education and to then work and earn a living and therfore be able to have their own house or flat or rent one. For various reasons, some have not made good use of said opportunities. Why should they be given any priority over immigrants, or the other way round?

- Jim Brown, London

Native Londoner, London

VERY WELL AND HONESTLY PUT

This report is a pack of lies, I'm about to set off to Pimlico, and will cycle through about 4 or 5 housing estates, and the majority I see are immigrants occupying these.

The people who have been bought up here white and non white, have to get expensive mortgages or private rented accomodation, as we come last.

So anyone who believes this report is an idiot, try walking, driving, cycling round any housing estate in London and you will see the facts before you.

- P Staker, London

With rubbish and spin like this is it any wonder Labour have lost the white,working class vote!

- Stephen, London

These unfair policies hurt the immigrants that would otherwise melt into our communities, by turning the true locals against them.

It's hard to imagine them refusing a hand out, as a friend did here in Spain (he wanted Brits to be seen to standing on their own feet).

Same applies to the feral youth gangs that let all African immigrants down by their hunger for violence and crime.

They all need the government to buck their ideas up, remove the economic scum, and help the worthy migrants to have pride and a sense of achievement. But without more corrupt, money wasting, community projects.

- Peter, London UK

Why can't we give the same benefits to everyone? Regardless of their wealth? Is it a little bit prejudist to favour the 'poor' over the 'rich'. Why should the rich have to pay for the poor as well as themselves. There is a good reason why people are poor sometimes - and its not usually the fault of the rich person. Its been like this for centuries in this country. Why can't we accept there is no such thing as 'free' anything.

- Helen Knowles, Chelmsford

Another example of government assuming the British people are too thick to see what is going on right under their noses. What I'd like to know is, when are we going to take our country back and look after those who have been here for generations? I'm white, English and born in Westminster and I'm an ethnic minority in my own town. I know where I would be on the list - at the bottom. It pretty much says so on the application form. So I have to pay over £200 pw in rent and work flat out to pay a huge amount of tax to subsidise the free housing, education and healthcare for immigrants who make no attempt whatsoever to fit in or earn their own keep. And politicians wonder why we are upset?

- Native Londoner, London

This report is an absolute white-wash - [Can I say that ?].
A friend of mine who split up from his wife appied for council accomodation. Being slightly dark skinned the interviewer asked him if he was of an ethnic origin as he would get more points..Was he a Muslim = more points..Was he gay = more points etc.'
You only have to walk around my local council estate to see who lives there..Although in fairness to those who do live there, it isn't as bad as some estates I know...At the moment at least, you can walk around this one at anytime.

- Mark H, London England

It is rubbish immigrants have been being allocated housing in front of local people in all areas for years. In London in the 1970`s I could not get a house and had to move from the area. My family goes back for generations in London and Kent all the same names crop up right back to 800 so far. My husbands family the same. Every branch of our respective families lost relatives in two wars. We have married in and out of the families in the area for hundreds of years. NONE OF THIS WAS ENOUGH. My Aunty was on the list for 18 years waiting and they housed immigrant newcomers in front her. The same in my husbands family. His parents moved out of London to Essex. Then abroad to escape what London was becoming. My Grandad refused to die here( two world wars to his credit)he went to Norway. Three days before he died to be with his youngest son. Most of our family dispersed to get away to other parts of the UK purely to escape what was being turned into a multicultural hell hole in which to add to the insult , we had no rights ourselves. Then they wonder why people are so sick of it all.

- Kay, Britain

The problem is that local people are NOT being given priority.

I was about to type an example of this, but I think we are past that stage - people can see what is happening. Until local long-term borough residents (irrespective of colour) are given absolute priority for social housing the situation will not be seen as equitable.

Those who are comfortably-off can pass on privately-held property to their children. For the rest of us, the legacy that we leave is the shared resources that we have worked so hard, and been taxed so hard, to fund.

Newcomers should NOT have immediate equal access to that shared legacy. Access should be gradually acquired over a number of years, miroring what they are contributing to the community.

- Mike Hart, London, UK

The responses on this page seem as biased as claimed in the report!

Remember people, this is a UK-wide report.

Granted, if this was a London-centric study it probably would have reflected the fact that there is a significant amount of immigrants in the Capital.

But what's more clear to me is that there is a growing set of 'indigenous' British, particularly those with ties to social housing, who's feathers appear ruffled by the existence of non-white immigrants on their social turf!

- Lionel, London

no-one believes stats from Equalities and Human Rights Commission, they are so biased.
absolute irrelavant nonsense. what a waste of space they are.

- Jonny, London

This report is misleading. "64% of immigrants go into private rented accommodation" - I know landlords who have bought up ex-council and private housing, rent to immigrants and get the rent paid by the council. The house is not "council" in all but name but tax payer funded. And of all council housing allocated since 1997, what's the percentage that go to immigrants? It's huge, especially in London. The EHRC think we are fools.

- Ab, London

Have you noticed just how many of these responses contain spelling and grammatical errors, perhaps indicative of a BNP supporter response?

- Giles, London

I live in East Kent and we are over-run with immigrants, legal and illegal. I think the people who wrote this should come and live in the real world !

- Chrissie, Kent . England

I spend quite a lot of time driving around council estates and I do not believe a word of this.

- Mr G, Leeds UK

The report answers the wrong question. It may well be the case that only 2% of the total housing stock is occupied by immigrants. However, much of the social housing stock will be occupied by older people who have lived there for many years. The real question is what percentage of the new social housing allocations each year go to immigrants. I suspect that this question would give a very different answer. However, the Labour government prefers to ask the wrong question, as it suits its political agenda, and then seek to bamboozle the public with half truths and misleading statistics. This deliberate deception of the British public is nothing short of disgraceful. The Labour party are more to blame than anyone else for the recent rise of the BNP.

- Andrew, Manchester

I was on the council house waiting list for NINE years before I was offered a place.
I applied jointly with my partner, but by the time I finally got an offer we had long split-up.
I fail to see why *any* immigrants should get housing places ahead of UK citizens.
However, the immigrants weren't the only ones jumping the queue. In our area, the only way you could get to the top of the list was to get pregnant! The whole system is a shambles.

- Sid, Worksop, UK.

A new info revamp taken from an old (2007) report.Phillips trying to save his job. Will he make it? .Should he make it?

Stop the quango jockeys! all of them !

- John Straight, London England

Every block of flats in Birmingham is having a new digital tv system fitted with channels coming from the middle east and eastern european countries. All the blocks we have done have been 60% or more of non british tenents. I wonder why we are doing this.

- Andy, birmingham

In bristol there are thousands of somilans, there dealing drugs and running shop lifting gangs, the council and police dont do anything for fear of racism, when they arrive, they are housed in private accomadation till there case is heard, always get given immigration status, then join the line for housing at the front

If immigrants are not given priorty, why are british people waiting 7 years for housing, how are the immigrants paying for there private accomadation, with no job or money ? were paying again

- James, bristol

I am just curios,

Is the 2% of total housing in the UK or of newly allocated?

There is a large difference in the end number!

- Robin, Cambridge UK

So jsut how is it possible that any 'immigrant; from any country who has moved to the UK in the last 5 years to be able to have Local Authority Housing, when our indigenous population have been on the list for years......? If 1 in 6 of the immigrants who have arrived prior to the last 5 years are in Council Housing, this would equate to approx 140,000 people based on the immigration statistics between 1997 - 2004 alone (source ONS including dependents)!! That is a huge amount, living in Council accomodation designed, built and paid for by indigenous British people for British people.

- Gary, amersham

It definitely doen't seem that way in Havering. My daughter was in the housing office when a lady who was not English and was unable to speak English properly was being given the keys to a 4 bedroom house. Another woman saw this and approached the woman. She asked how long she had been in England and the woman stated 3 weeks. The woman who had asked the question had been waiting 5 years for a 3 bedroom house because she had a disabled sone and was told there was no chance of a house for her. How fair is that. Also as I walk around the town centre I would say at least a quarter are not speaking English. It is disgraceful.

I have also very recently been made redundant and am finding it very difficult to find another job. And yet I am served in shops by many many foreign badly English speaking people. England for the English is what I say.

- Jan, Romford

It's fine to suggest a small percentage of immigrants are getting free houses, however is this because there is little going around in the first place. How much is left after they take their bite!

A bite that many should not be in the UK to take, in the first place!

- Peter, London UK

This report for the very biased 'Equalities and Human Rights Commission' utilizes statistics to hide the truth that Immigrants take social housing from poor working class people. For instance it conflated migrants legally i.e. people from Europe with immigrants. This kind of report will only increase tensions.

- Paul John Graham, Greenwich

I would really like to believe this and can believe that the Poles for example, mainly live in private rented accommodation. But what about all the Bangladeshis packed into council tower blocks in Tower Hamlets and their large families? Tower Hamlets has an ethnic minority population of 49% (of whom just over two-thirds are of Bangladeshi origins), the percentage of children born to foreign born mothers is 68%.

And if social housing is allocated according to a points system based on size of family, illness etc, this could well give an immigrant family granted permission to stay, priority over the children of a local family. Is this fair - to have a system which gives new arrivals priority over long established local residents?

- Mrs Paul, London England

Rubbish. Social housing is supplied to those in 'greatet need'. Immigrant families are often bigger than those of Brits, hence they get the housing. Also, I understood that the cabinet was in favour of this policy.

- Frank, Worcester, England

As a foreigner living in London these past three years, this smells of a classic government whitewash. 2% of asylum seekers have taken spaces in social housing in a country in the midst of a housing shortage, unable to attend its own poeple's needs. That means 2% have in fact jumped the queue ahead of local people waiting for house (else how do you explain someone getting a home upon arrival when others have waited months or years, or been told they won't get one because they don't fit the political demographic?) What would be far more telling is how long asylum seekers wait to get housing vs. locally unemployed people, and how many are bumped off the waiting list and told to go away to make the statistics less damning.

- J S, London, UK

I work for a Housing Association and we have to give priority for housing to people on the top of local authority housing list - most of them are immigrants with large families. More than 60% of the tenants in the housing estates I manage are immigrants. I don't know where the Equalities and Human Rights Commission get their figures - obviously not from social housing providers in South London!

- Phil, London, UK

welcome to another orwellando world,another propaganda bulletin to make goebells proud,

- Lorne, derby

A biased report for a biased outfit!

- David, East London

So the "Equalities" and "Human Rights" Commission have been juggling statistics. Remember they tried to have the BNP banned a few weeks ago? did they try and ban the Black Lawyers association, the Black Police Assocition?

It's an organisation that is there specifically to push forward the agenda of immigrants (at a cost of £80,000,000 a year to the taxpayer.

- Stephen Carter, Kew

What about encouraging people not to rely on social housing and aiming to get them working and providing for themselves. If you offer an easy option for people (immigrants and nationals) then they will take it. And yes I am well aware that some peoples circumstances mean that they need social housing but I am talking about the ones that have no intention of ever looking for a job even though they are quite capable......

- Sarah, London

There is hardly any social housing available so, as we have seen from recent cases, immigrants are put in rented accommodation with the taxpayer footing the bill.
That costs almost twice as much as it would having them in social housing and that goes for single mothers too.
I know someone whose marriage recently broke up and the home was repossessed. There was no social housing available for her and her children so she was told to find rented property and claim for the rent on her benefits. This is how it goes now with social housing stocks being so low.

- Mary, Derby England

This may be so but the perception needs changing. I had a friend living in my spare bedroom as she'd broken up with her boyfriend (with whom she lived) and been made redundant in the same week, when she applied for emergency housing she was told that she wasn't eligible as she wasn't an asylum seeker, ethnic minority or pregnant. What exactly does it benefit local authorities telling people this is if their own reports say it isn't the case?

- Bob, Cheam

Damn lies and statistics.

- Dave Davies, Basingstoke, Hants

This report confirms what I've suspected for a long time - housing shortages have nothing to do with migrants, and everything to do with councils not building enough homes to replace those sold off via right to buy.

Now can some politicians please actually challenge the BNP when they start spouting this "immigrants take all our housing" tripe?

- Mark Lee, Vauxhall

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