The government is to impose tougher rules on councils to stop social housing being let to immigrants, the prime minister announced today.
In a speech on immigration, David Cameron said around one in 10 social lettings currently go to foreign nationals, and he wants to remove any expectation that new immigrants will be housed by the state.
The new rules are likely to place a requirement on councils that their allocation policies prevent people going on their waiting lists unless they can prove they have lived in the area for at least two years. Exceptions will be put in place for British nationals who have moved from another area.
Under current guidance councils are encouraged to include local residency tests within their allocation policies, but the new rules will introduce a clear requirement that all councils should have such policies.
An Inside Housing survey of the approach to allocations being taken by 50 councils carried out in January, found that of the 33 who had decided whether or not to introduce a ‘local connection’ test, 12 were in favour, but 21 were against.
Today’s announcement follows concerns about the number of Romanian and Bulgarian immigrants who could come to the UK from January 2014, when immigration rules change, with government estimates predicting an influx of 13,000 people.
Critics dismissed the idea as a political move that will make no practical difference to the way social housing is allocated and have quireied the one in ten lettings data.