'Foreigners' do not jump the council housing queue in Croydon

“Firstly i would like a definition of "FOREIGN NATIONALS" a true and complete definition as the very point of spin and manipulation of statistical facts which are baffling, misleading, and to be disregarded.
I am fed up of these second rate political correct, unaccountable, living in a twilight world, twice removed from the estate to where this issue is a tinder box of an frustration.
The statement of statistical fact which does not add up in basic math terms compounded with the blatant statement that " Meanwhile 90 per cent went to Brits while the nationality of the remaining three per cent was not recorded". HOW can these public servants state without any redress state that 3% were not recorded?
HOW can we believe any figures, are they true are they not? Stating facts like these should be 100% correct and all lettings or local authority property and housing association property in fact all property under the local tax payers umbrella should be fully accounted.
I am sick of the likes of Dudley Mead stating facts like these which are laughable.
AT what point are we to accept as said in comments this borough this country is breaking down "FULL" is mentioned it is a fact that schools,housing, hospital, are all full to capacity. We need to take stock in open,full audit debate.

GET REAL CROYDON!!!
DRAKEKNIGHT”

“Of course, the hundreds of people queuing up outside the Home Office on a daily basis and are now shielded away from public view are left to live on the streets. When will this government locate a backbone and return people back to their nearest country of safety? We're full.”

“Apologies for a late-night minor error in my post below (and I was talking about being no good at simple maths!). In the penultimate sentence I used a wrong figure, so the corrected sentence should read as shown below. It's a difference of only 2% so it doesn't change my argument, but I want it to be right.

The corrected sentence is:

Therefore the two extremes that are possible are that 96% could have gone to British citizens and 4% to foreign nationals or, at the other extreme, as little as 49% could have gone to British citizens, leaving 51% let to foreign nationals.”

“From the article above:
"The data shows that of 592 council properties let during 2010/11, just 41 were given to people registered as foreign nationals.

Meanwhile 90 per cent went to Brits while the nationality of the remaining three per cent was not recorded.

Although a total of 1,094 properties were let that year, for which only 592 of the residents' nationality was recorded..."

This makes no sense! 1,094 properties were let and 41 went to foreign nationals. 90% of the 592 went to British citizens, which equates to 533 properties. So what the figures are really saying is that, of the 1,094 properties, 49% (533 out of 1,094) are recorded as going to British citizens, 4% (41 out of 1,094) are recorded as going to foreign nationals, which means that in 47% of lets that year, the nationality of the people allocated to the property wasn't recorded. Therefore the two extremes that are possible are that 96% could have gone to British citizens and 4% to foreign nationals or, at the other extreme, as little as 47% could have gone to British citizens, leaving 53% let to foreign nationals. The truth, of course, is going to be somewhere between these theoretical extremes, but the point is that the figures, as quoted, are meaningless and useless, and don't prove anything.

I'd be interested to hear an official response to this. Have the figures been misquoted or is Croydon Council useless at simple maths?”

“Cllr Michael Neal, that is pure PR nonsense which tries to debunk the obvious by deflection.

Yes everyone gets put into bands, and a homeless asylum seeker would be put in the top band/band 1 as they are...homeless. So they go before many many others who have been waiting for housing for a long time who are on band 2 and 3.

Politicians who try to deny the obvious, speak in PR politico speak and treat people like idiots will never get my vote.”

“I would like to congratulate the Advertiser in dispelling the myth that a majority of Foreign Nationals jump the queue for Social Housing.
The council has a stringent national housing policy which has to be adhered too. Housing is allocated under the band system and is based purely on need.

An Asylum seeker who is housed by the home office may apply for social housing when they are notified of the outcome of their application and have been granted leave to remain. In that case they can present themselves as refugees and register for Social Housing normally in the area where they have lived during the application process. There is then a strict qualifying criteria and not all applicants qualify.
With the UK Border Agency's national asylum processing centre being based in Croydon you can understand why the public perceive the amount of refugee applicants would be significantly higher than 10 as stated in your report. The council is doing its best to house those in need, but the fact is that demand outstrips supply. The council does have an ongoing housing building programme which will help to alleviate those in need and who are particularly effected by over crowding.
I hope this goes someway to reassure those applicants in bands 1 and 2 who find themselves waiting months and sometimes
years for Social Housing.

One worrying trend is the breakdown of the family and the subsequent after affects, the council is doing its best to ensure that young adults stay in the home with their parents or relatives. I have personally attended meetings with Parent(s) and dedicated officer teams who try and offer support and guidance so that families stay together. Parenting is challenging and difficult at times and we must support familes who are on the point of collapse to prevent the ever growing numbers registering for Social Housing.

Cllr Michael Neal
Deputy Member for Housing”

“You do not have to be in council accommodation to be subsidised by the council. If you qualify, you can be in private accommodation and receive housing benefit. Perhaps some of these who otherwise would apply for council housing are in this position, and would not show up on the statistics the article refers to.”

“Some 362 of the 1,644 who approached the local authority cited parental eviction – with a further 319 saying they had been thrown out by friends or relatives.

This is the excuse of choice. I know of people that have used this excuse just to get a council flat. The parents in no way would really kick them out onto the street.

I can understand people suffering from abuse getting a council house, those being evicted due to mortgage repayments and even foreigners. But why is the queue for council housing so long?

When did Britain become a country full of failures who cannot save up money (like most) and jump into the private sector.”

“You only got to see who is getting all the jobs to know that.”

“I would imagine that British residents are relatively easy to identify so in the vast majority of cases their nationality will be recorded. For non British nationals, idenitfying the country of origin may not be as obvious so often not recorded.

This may be over simplified but on this assumption you may have 93% of those being recorded being British but I would imagine the story is very different on the other side (i.e. the 46% unknown origin).”