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The Home Office has amassed a stock of 16,000 properties for asylum seekers, despite a severe shortage of housing for young professionals and families.
Contractors employed by the Home Office are offering landlords five-year guaranteed full rent agreements to take over the management of properties as they rush to relocate asylum seekers from hotels.
These properties, sourced from the private rental and social housing markets, are being utilised to accommodate over 58,000 asylum seekers across England, Wales, and Scotland – a figure that has doubled in the last decade.
Meanwhile, Housing Secretary Michael Gove has warned that if young British people and families continue to struggle with homeownership, they may lose faith in democracy. As a result, we learn that the Government are looking to unveil measures to appeal to Generation Rent and the Boomerang Generation, who return home after university or training.
However much impact the Michael Gove measures have, and in the interests of young people in particular, we hope it is considerable, they totally fail to address the root cause of the housing crisis. It is not simply about a continual inability to build enough homes; although, this too is of course important. It is principally about a rapidly growing population and what drives this.
Net migration is adding around 700,000 people annually. It is this mammoth inflow that drives up demand, house prices and rents and makes housing unaffordable for so many.
A Centre for Policy Studies study has estimated that Britain needs 5.7 million new homes over the next 15 years to keep up with immigration-driven population growth. Meanwhile, data from the Migration Advisory Committee shows that a 1% increase in population due to immigration raises house prices by 1%.
Social housing is also affected, with nearly half in London going to non-UK-born households. This situation has led to frustration among young British adults, who feel they are being left behind by a system that prioritises newcomers over them.
The housing crisis will only worsen unless we address the root causes. By 2036, Britain’s population is projected to grow by 6.6 million, with 6.1 million (over 90%) due to immigration. This growth is equivalent to five cities the size of Birmingham.
It’s time for some honesty, clarity and realism about the housing crisis. We cannot hope to meet demand for housing or limit escalating property prices with net migration at its present unprecedented levels.
This is a preview of Migration Watch’s free weekly newsletter. Please consider signing up to the newsletter directly, you can do so here and will receive an email copy of the newsletter every Friday as soon as it is released.