Margaret Hodge's plan to give social housing priority to British-born families priority over economic migrants does nothing to solve the root causes of the problem - a chronic shortage of housing caused by successive governments limiting the number of new build council homes, made worse by rising house prices and unscrupulous landlords - and much to lend credence to the lies and twisted truths pedalled by the right-wing media and the BNP.
Hodge's comments will grab a few cheap headlines and play well with her constitiuents, but the truth is that new migrants have no automatic entitlement to council homes, and aren't even added to the housing register until they've been in the country for more than 12 months. The migrant workers I teach live in overpriced, poor quality private accommodation, mostly in dead-end streets and sink estates. To suggest that people walk straight off planes into council housing is stupid and dangerously wrong.
Mainstream politicians representing working class, multi-cultural communities undoubtedly face a growing threat from extremist parties. The best defence is hard work and integrity, dispelling myths instead of chasing headlines.
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