Migrants aren’t jumping queues for social housing,and in some places immigration actually lowers housing demandIn a speech in December 2012, Theresa May claimed that more than a third of all new housing demand in Britain was caused by immigration. “And there is evidence that without the demand caused by mass immigration, and house prices could be 10% lower over a 20-year period,” she said. The statement mirrors a common trope in any debate on the housing crisis: the thought that it is caused by mass migration, and that without migration, or Britain would hold no need for more housing.
The London School of Economics report that May cited as the source for her claim also says: In the early years even better off migrants tend to form fewer households as compared to the indigenous population; to live disproportionately in private renting; and to live at higher densities. However,the longer they stay, the more their housing consumption resembles that of similar indigenous households.”Continue reading...
Source: theguardian.com