Newcastle City Council has been urged to shut down myths surrounding asylum seekers, as misinformation threatens its push to build more social housing.
Local authority chiefs were told on Monday that false claims about asylum seekers being placed in council houses posed a threat to the city’s commitment to build at least 1,500 new council homes in the next decade. The council was recently awarded £141 million towards that vision under a new partnership with Homes England, one of only three councils in the country to be given such status.
Waiting list pressure
As of September 1, there were 8,222 households on Newcastle’s council house waiting list, and officials are eager to usher in a construction boom that can provide more affordable homes for those in need.
Green councillor Matt Williams warned that news of incoming developments in areas like his Walker ward were too often met by false claims that new council housing will be taken up by asylum seekers. Asylum seekers in the UK are not eligible for council housing. In the North East, the Home Office contracts private firm Mears Group to provide accommodation for asylum seekers.
Councillor’s warning
Coun Williams told the city council’s place scrutiny committee: “There is a prevalent myth that asylum seekers are being housed in council homes. At a hyper-local level like in my ward, there is a massive demand for council housing and they need more stable, affordable rents.
“But when council houses are proposed to be developed, people are generally worried and that is a product of misinformation amplified by the media and political parties. It is a huge, huge problem to address housing needs in some working class areas of the city.
“The wider myth is the threat of asylum seekers more generally. It will be really hard to address that challenge unless there is a consensus to address those two myths, Is there a plan to address some of the misinformation around council homes and who gets them, and the threat of asylum seekers more generally?”
Council response
Vicky McDermott, the council’s director of housing and communities, confirmed that people cannot be considered for social housing without having leave to remain in the UK.
Lib Dem councillor James Coles, the council’s cabinet member responsible for housing, added: “We have been trying really, really hard to combat that [the myths]. We have been accused of being a bit too firm in our lines on that, but I am pretty confident we won't be backing down on that.
“We provide responses where we get queries from ward representatives and where we get them from members of the public. I can be fairly transparent in the fact that we are doing what we are legally obliged to do and providing responses where people are trying to spread this kind of nonsense.”
