Comments on: Local housing for local people

By: Social Housing Survey » Martin George

Social Housing Survey » Martin George — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 12:49:55 +0000

[...] major survey into social housing allocation has found, contrary to Margaret Hodge’s controversial outburst last year, that the system is not deliberately weighted in favour non-UK residents, and [...]

By: Hodge woz wrong - official | Nearly Legal

Hodge woz wrong - official | Nearly Legal — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 20:37:37 +0000

[...] may have taken nearly a year after Margaret Hodge’s ‘they come over here taking our housing’ outburst, but it turns out that she was wrong (and I was right, so [...]

By: Julie Smith

Julie Smith — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 13:14:49 +0000

here here!

it is not fair.

I have 7 year old triplets and am still stuck in a 2 bed flat was told would have house in 5 years tops. we both work v hard and recieve NO benefits but get NO credit for it.

By: The Hodge Affair « Free Movement

The Hodge Affair « Free Movement — Thu, 07 Jun 2007 17:12:07 +0000

[...] debate on housing allocation and immigration, covered elsewhere in the legal blogging world by Nearly Legal and Head of Legal amongst [...]

By: EU citizens and social housing at Nearly Legal

EU citizens and social housing at Nearly Legal — Tue, 29 May 2007 19:04:36 +0000

[...] is gained under Art 16 (5 years residence), the qualifications to entitlement I set out in the ‘Hodge’ post pretty much stand, in my suddenly rather unhumble opinion, with some changes in the [...]

By: Head of Legal: EU citizens, social housing and Margaret Hodge

Head of Legal: EU citizens, social housing and Margaret Hodge — Tue, 29 May 2007 18:54:35 +0000

[...] Nearly Legal – an excellent blawg with particular strength in housing law – wrote interestingly the other day about Margaret Hodge’s comment about economic migrants and access to social housing.But isn’t the position for EU citizens simpler than that? It seems to me that any EU citizen (excluding Romanians and Bulgarians for the time being) is entitled to equal treatment with British citizens as regards access to social housing, under article 24 of Directive 2004/38, as soon as they have enteredthe UK, since under article 6 they automatically have the right to reside here for three months. I don’t think it really matters any more whether or not they’re looking for work – under article 7 they retain the right to reside here if they become incapable of work, or enrol on a vocational course. And anyway, article 14 prevents the authorities from systematically checking whether EU citizens meet the criteria for retaining the right of residence, and prevents expulsion of an EU citizen who is looking for work. In effect, therefore, you can stay if you’re unemployable, and you can stay if you’re employable. The reality is (in spite of the apparent conditionality of the Directive) that we’ve been moving from a “free movement of workers” paradigm to a “free movement of EU citizens” paradigm.It’s true that article 24 only grants equal treatment within the scope of the EC Treaty, but since this Directive replaces the old Regulation 1612/68, which used to speak of equal treatment as regards “social advantages”, which I think almost certainly includes access to social housing, it seems to me that a right to equal treatment in that regard is part of the acquis communautaire and that Directive 2004/38 should be interpreted as guaranteeing it.So, Margaret, there’s no chance of pushing Polish plumbers, receptionists, students or “jobseekers”, or their Russian husbands, wives or civil partners, down the housing list. [...]

By: Belle de Jure

Belle de Jure — Mon, 21 May 2007 20:18:39 +0000

An excellent post! Not only do we need more housing stock, but doing something about those awful estates to make them nice places to live in would also be good.

By: the chief

the chief — Mon, 21 May 2007 15:16:05 +0000

Spot on. I’ve previously worked with asylum seekers and in homelessness and both are groups (not mutually exclusive, of course) of people who are often seen as jumping the queue for Council houses. This kind of over simplification completely fails to address what, as you point out, is a genuine problem. The answer? More housing stock would certainly be a good starting point.

By: prisonlawinsideout: Margaret Hodge MP goes Barking mad and joins the BNP

prisonlawinsideout: Margaret Hodge MP goes Barking mad and joins the BNP — Mon, 21 May 2007 11:56:44 +0000

[...] would appear that Margaret Hodge MP, Labour for Barking, has gone barking mad with racist outpourings more in keeping with the BNP.UPDATE: Downing Street supports Margaret Hodge’s racist [...]

By: Belle de Jure

Belle de Jure — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

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