HOUSING
7
Housing
Literature on housing and migrants in the UK is not plentiful, and what there is generally conflates newer migrants with those settled in the UK for much longer periods (such as the migrants from new Commonwealth countries who form the basis for many studies published on ethnic minorities, discrimination and housing in the UK) or the more recently arrived refugees and asylum seekers. There is also a particular difficulty in that what data is available about housing tenure is not necessarily going to tell us much about discrimination. Access to social housing, for example, is determined by eligibility (based on immigration status) and need (homelessness, overcrowding, etc), but may also be subject to discrimination. Without the figures on who has applied, however, we cannot actually look at discrimination, because first comes the choice to apply for social housing, and while that choice may also be determined by access (or lack of it) to good advice and information, a much more important factor is income and capital: those with money will generally choose either home ownership or the upper end of the private rented sector. There are also significant regional and local variations: the (declining) availability of hard to let social housing in some areas enables access to a wider group (although not the ineligible, however hard to let, except via asylum support arrangements). Scotland and Wales, in addition, have different legal frameworks for eligibility for housing and homelessness services. 7.1 Housing eligibility Regulations enabled by the Housing Act 1996 set out who can be housed by local authorities, or by their referrals to housing association vacancies. Local councils are expected to check on this when people apply to go onto housing waiting lists or registers. Regulations also cover who can get emergency housing if homeless. The Welsh regulations are different, and Scottish housing law is distinct, and each has their own restrictions on eligibility (see below). All local housing authorities are, however, required to ensure that free housing advice is available to all in their area, irrespective of immigration status. The English eligibility regulations exclude all non-European Economic Area (EEA) nationals except those with refugee status and other forms of leave granted through the asylum system and those who have indefinite leave to remain (that is, settled status). Thus those on limited leave as work permit holders, highly skilled migrants, spouses etc are not eligible. EEA nationals are only eligible if they have certain rights to reside in the UK, essentially those gained through work, self-employment, study and self-sufficiency. Family members of EEA nationals enjoy the same rights. There are specific rules covering workers from the 10 accession states in their first year in 91