In July 2009 the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) released a report on social housing in which they correct the misconception that asylum seekers or immigrants somehow are top of the housing queue. The BBC reported:
There is no evidence that new arrivals in the UK are able to jump council housing queues, an Equality and Human Rights Commission report says. Once they settle and are entitled to help, it adds, the same proportion live in social housing as UK-born residents…
“It is largely a problem of perception,” he [Housing minister John Healey] told Today.
“The report shows there is a belief, a wrong belief, that there is a bias in the system.”
I posted a blog article on this at the time because just about every tabloid and media outlet reported the findings, except the Daily Mail who went with:
The article failed to make any reference to the fact that immigrants / asylum seekers do not ‘jump the housing queue’ or get any favourable treatment whatsoever. Fast forward to today and the Daily Mail are still pushing this false media narrative: ‘Asylum seekers last in the housing queue: Britain’s biggest council decides to put its locals first‘. The article gets exactly the response it wants from its readers, just look at the current best-rated comments:
This is a myth that the Daily Mail just will not let die.
![[del.icio.us]](http://www.butireaditinthepaper.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/delicious.png)
![[Digg]](http://www.butireaditinthepaper.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/digg.png)
![[Facebook]](http://www.butireaditinthepaper.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/facebook.png)
![[Google]](http://www.butireaditinthepaper.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/google.png)
![[StumbleUpon]](http://www.butireaditinthepaper.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/stumbleupon.png)
![[Technorati]](http://www.butireaditinthepaper.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/technorati.png)
![[Twitter]](http://www.butireaditinthepaper.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/twitter.png)
![[Email]](http://www.butireaditinthepaper.co.uk/wp-content/plugins/bookmarkify/email.png)
6 Comments
The “Daily Myth”?
daily mail readers buy into this bullshit, because they want to believe it
Re. Sue W’s “NOT Great Britain” bit from the DM readers’ comments section; if I had a quid for every buffoon who didn’t know that the country is called “Great” Britain purely to distinguish us from Brittany (it’s a French-language thing), I’d be a very rich man.
It’s weird that the terms ‘immigrant’ and ‘asylum seeker’ are used interchangeably by the Daily Mail. I am an immigrant: I was born elsewhere and moved to the UK. I have UK citizenship, though, so I have as much right to the benefits of the state as any other citizen (not that I take advantage of them).
Not only do asylum seekers fail to get favourable treatment when it comes to council housing – they don’t actually get any access to council housing. It’s a huge myth. It isn’t until they’re granted residency or indefinite leave to remain or whatever that they’re entitled to help from the state.
My complaint about Littlejohn (cloaca) trotting out this very myth is currently winding its way through the corridors of the PCC. I’ll let you know as and when they get back to me.
The tide is turning! White people will have the power and dominate the world at last!
2 Trackbacks / Tweetbacks
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kevin Arscott, Abhijeet Ahluwalia, audreym, Brian Moylan, Hannah M and others. Hannah M said: RT @uponnothing: New Post: Daily Mail still lying about asylum seekers and social housing. http://bit.ly/cljvf3 [...]
[...] last month the Daily Mail were again repeating the myth by claiming that Birmingham City Council was putting ‘Asylum seekers last in the housing queue: [...]