Quote:
Originally Posted by Margaret Pilkington
If you come into this country without first making provision for accommodation, then doesn't that put you in the category of the 'homeless'?
Aren't these 'homeless' people given priority in respect of social housing?
Somehow, I'd got it in my head that they were...certainly in this country anyway....if you rock up on the Costa del Sol, and present yourself at the Spanish version of the social services offices, I think their response would have 'off' in the sentence.
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There's a section on homelessness in the document I quoted:
Even if an EU migrant is eligible for housing, if they are applying for assistance under Part 7 of the 1996 Housing Act (the homelessness provisions) they must also be
unintentionally homeless and fall into a priority need category, as defined by section 189 of the 1996 Act, before they can qualify for assistance.17 Section 185(4) of the 1996 Act had required authorities to disregard ineligible family members when reaching a decision over whether an applicant has a priority need for accommodation. Thus if a dependent child was ineligible, even though his/her parents were eligible, the family was treated as not being in priority need and no statutory duty to house the family arose (but see below).
Subsequently the Labour Government tabled amendments to the 2008 Housing and Regeneration Act during its passage through parliament to remedy this declaration of incompatibility across the UK. With effect from 2 March 2009 section 314 and Schedule 15 of the 2008 Act amended the 1996 Housing Act and the 1999 Immigration and Asylum Act so that the requirement to disregard ineligible household members when considering whether an eligible applicant is homeless or has a priority need for accommodation, no longer applies.
Describing the effect of the amendments, the then Minister, Iain Wright said:
…in summary the issue at stake is what help British citizens whose household includes members with different immigration status should get if they become homeless. The amendments will ensure that in future, households in those circumstances will be provided with suitable accommodation, while continuing to ensure that
people from abroad with no claim to UK public resources cannot confer entitlement to long-term social housing.
Thus the entitlement of homeless households in this position is to an offer of suitable private rented accommodation and not to a social housing tenancy.