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Press Releases for September 2009
September 23, 2009
New research shows impact of immigration on social housing.
Proportion of foreign born in social housing rises 50% in ten years.
September 1, 2009
How Immigration Affects Population Size
Full Text of Releases : September 2009
New research shows impact of immigration on social housing.
Proportion of foreign born in social housing rises 50% in ten years.
New research by Migrationwatch, based on official figures, shows the pressure that uncontrolled immigration has placed – and will place – on social housing.
Speaking at the annual conference of the National Housing Federation in London today, Migrationwatch chairman, Sir Andrew Green said that in the last ten years, the number of UK born tenants in social housing in the UK has fallen by about 1.2 million while non UK-born tenants have increased by 300,000. As a result, the proportion of foreign born has increased from 7.2% to 11.1% - an increase of 54%.
Migrants who arrived here in the last five years and are not refugees are not yet eligible to apply for social housing but could become so in future years if they are granted settlement. Grants of settlement for non-EEA nationals are running at about 160,000 a year, giving a potential pool of 800,000 although, of course, by no means all will apply.
The rise in the proportion of foreign born in social housing is greater because the supply of social housing has not merely failed to meet the demand in a period of very high immigration, but the stock of social housing has actually fallen over the last ten years.
- In England, the number of social housing units has fallen from 4.4 to 3.9 million in the last ten years.
- Immigration has added nearly three million to the population of the UK over the same period, mainly in England.
- The waiting list for social housing in England has risen by 80% in the six years 2002-8, up to 1.8 million, with a sharp peak in 2003-4. Recent research by the National Housing Federation, published in March, suggests that the waiting list could approach two million in 2011.
Earlier this month the Government announced plans to build 2,000 homes in England – which it described as the biggest social housing building project in England for “over 20 years”.
By way of comparison, this would be enough to meet the projected household formation of new immigrants for just over a week.
The pressure on social housing is set to continue:
- the population of the UK is growing rapidly - twice as fast as in the 1990's and three times as fast as in the 1980's. By 2028 it is set to reach and then exceed 70 million.
- 70% of this increase is due to immigration. In other words, unless it is controlled, immigration will add the equivalent of 7 cities the size of Birmingham over the next 20 years or so.
- Immigration is the major factor in household formation – 40% or, on average, nearly 2,000 new households a week - and it is the only one that can be influenced by government. Unless immigration is brought under control, we will need to build one home every six minutes for new immigrants for the next 25 years.
‘In the debate about housing, immigration is a huge elephant in the room. Pressures on the green belt, the need for more affordable housing, overcrowding – all of these are made worse by large scale, uncontrolled immigration. Unless the next Government makes a clear commitment not to allow the population to hit 70 million, and to build its immigration policies around that commitment, we will need to find the money and space to build seven cities the size of Birmingham in the next 25 years just to house new immigrants. We are sitting on top of a population timebomb. It must be a major priority of the next Government to defuse it.’
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How Immigration Affects Population Size
A UK population of 70 million remains very likely within 25 years, despite the probably temporary effect of the recession. That is the conclusion of a report issued today by Migrationwatch.
The baby boom and the International Passenger Survey figures released last week have cast the spotlight on the growth in our population. The birth rate has gone up, partly due to immigration, but net immigration is now likely to be much lower for 2008 due largely to a greater outflow of EU citizens – presumably as a result of the recession. Meanwhile, the Minister for Immigration has challenged the validity of the population projections produced by the independent Office for National Statistics (ONS). He has also given the public an assurance that the population of the UK will not reach 70 million.
With immigration now accounting for nearly 70% of projected population growth, the link between the two becomes of major importance in determining the kind of country that Britain will be in decades to come. Briefing Paper 9.24 sets out the very careful manner in which the ONS arrives at the assumption about future immigration which is one of the key variables underlying their population projections.
Commenting, Sir Andrew Green, Chairman of Migrationwatch, said
“The record shows that, at 20 years range, the ONS population projections have been accurate to 2.5% for the past half century. There are bound to be uncertainties about both birth rates and immigration but it is thoroughly irresponsible to dismiss projections that have been carefully arrived at. At a minimum, they demonstrate what is very likely to happen in the absence of a major change in immigration policy. Such changes to our society are, in practice, irreversible as we have already seen.
The government’s own survey, also released last week, showed that 80% of the public want to see immigration reduced, 53% 'by a lot'. The government are in denial about the impact of their failure to control immigration on the whole nature of our society. They must now respond to intense public concern with a firm undertaking to take the measures necessary to limit the growth in our population rather than yet more attempts at spin.”
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