By Andy Ford
One of the key bits of fake news that circulates around on the issue of migration and asylum seekers, is that they get preferential treatment in housing. It is a myth put about by Reform UK and its supporters and it was thoroughly exposed by a recent BBC radio programme.
Radio 4 recently had a short piece from Bury-born investigative journalist, Paul Kenyon, about how the building of a new housing estate led to a widespread belief in the town – with no evidence – that the houses were reserved for immigrants and asylum seekers.
Kenyon’s attention was first drawn by a short piece in the Bury Times about what looked like a good news story: an estate of new houses built for rent. But when he looked at the comments, he was shocked: “Not for the English”, “They are for asylum seekers”, “Not for people born here”.
Intrigued, he returned to Bury. In the famous Bury Market he found an integrated community of traders where stall holders, both local and of immigrant origin, had built a community based on common experiences and common work. But when he knocked on a few doors around the new estate he found a different story.
People would talk about “All the boats, the migrants, thousands and thousands of them” or “They get given money, but if you’re from here, you get nothing” A young couple said that “The consensus here, of the neighbours, is that the houses are for the boat people“.
Seeing politics through a racial lens
These people were not racist, but they had been taught to understand their problems through a racial lens: “The housing market is in crisis”, “People can’t get on the housing ladder because these people are being prioritised”, or “You can’t get a doctor’s appointment”.
When Kenyon visited Simple Life Homes, who built the estate, they explained that the estate was not for immigrants, and not even ‘affordable’ housing – the directors told him it was simply “first come first served” rented housing for profit. Ethnicity was not a consideration.
So why did so many people believe the opposite? Bury residents told Paul Kenyon that “It’s on the news” and that they felt it was natural to jump to conclusions because “We cannot ask the questions. People are scared to ask in case they get called racist.” The non-UK born population of Bury has increased by two thirds in the last decade, and even Asian charity workers in the town told Kenyon that there are “Too many asylum seekers“, but also, and crucially, that there is no support for them.
In the actual houses in question Kenyon found a cross-section of the modern British working class – students, IT managers, retail workers; some British born, others originally from Eastern Europe or Nigeria; but all working and all paying rent.
“A lot of people are not from round here”
An interview with a working-class woman living on a nearby council estate was revealing: “There are a lot of people not from round here”, she said…”you are not allowed to say certain words…am I allowed to say that? Stop telling us what we can or can’t say… Some of them on the new estate don’t want to know, and some don’t speak English, but a lot of them are working in the NHS and nursing homes.” On immigration and housing, she saw the reasons for people to leave their home countries: “Some of them are genuinely fleeing for their lives. But some of them get a fridge, carpets, furniture paid for. I didn’t get that.”
Kenyon did get to speak to one immigrant, ‘Roger’ from the Congo, who lived on a different estate. No other immigrants would speak, fearful of becoming too noticeable. ‘Roger’ fled Congo and ended up in Bury five years ago. His first impressions were of the cold and rain; and then he was surprised at the small houses: “We think everyone in Europe has a big house. And I was surprised to see the homeless people. Eventually I was given a two-bedroom house for me, my wife and my two children. It was furnished but we only had four chairs. If anyone came round someone had to sit on the floor!”
“Roger’ had realised that not speaking English was a barrier so he set himself to learn English, so then he could communicate, and eventually got a job. Kenyon asked him who he thought got a house first: “Vulnerable people. Disabled people, then those with children, then refugees like the Ukrainians“.
“I work, I pay taxes, I feed my family…”
Kenyon asked him what he would say to people who thought he had got to the top of the queue, ahead of native people. ‘Roger’ replied, “I see their point, but what about the global political situation? Houses are short anyway, so people they fight each other. I work, I pay taxes, I feed my family. I am not taking a house off anyone else.”
It was sad to hear the concern or anger at the housing shortage, or access to a GP, diverted onto immigrants, asylum seekers, and ‘boat people’ – but it is not something that has just happened. It has been engineered. GB News loses £40 mn a year and hardly anyone watches it, but it has millionaire backers who clearly think it is worth it, to inject the poison of racism into British society.
Then we have had literally decades of Tory newspapers hyping up fears over immigrants “flooding in”, taking houses from native people, and Rishi Sunak’s conscious decision to deflect the blame for the impact of 14 years of Tory mis-rule on British manufacturing and public services onto the few thousand refugees who cross the Channel in small boats. The far right like Reform UK have an active presence on social media where their lies and poison circulates widely…and some people believe it.
The target of Tories’ campaigns
The recorded numbers that have come to the UK, around 1.5 mn, mainly to do jobs no-one else wants to do; around 100,000 people seek asylum from wars and persecution; and around 30,000 cross the channel in small boats. The targets of Sunak’s (and now Badenoch’s) ‘Stop the Boats’ campaign, who people are being told daily are the cause of a GP and a housing shortage, comprise just 1.8% of immigrants.
Since the ousting of Jeremy Corbyn, there is no prominent political figure who has been able to put any counter narrative to the racist press, so inevitably people form their opinions in a fog of misinformation. Added to which, some anti-racists focus entirely on banning certain words and ideas, instead of a taking a class approach, and that leaves many people feeling confused, shut down and silenced. It is a situation where a few social media trolls can create a widespread belief in something that is simply not happening.
Yes, there is a housing crisis but it is caused by decades of almost non-existent council housing construction, and Thatcher’s ‘Right to Buy’,which forced, and still forces, local authorities to sell their housing way below market value, without the means of replacing the stock. And far from creating a ‘property-owning democracy’, most of those houses have ended up in the hands of private landlords.
The present Labour government’s strategy of relying on the private sector to build, and deregulating the planning system to help their profits, will do almost nothing to address the real housing problem. It is much easier, and cheaper, for the Tories, Reform, and the Labour right wing to blame a few thousand desperate migrants for the problem they have all created. It is also much more dangerous.
Who Gets the Houses, is available on BBC Sounds, here.
