CONFIDENTIAL
DRAFT PAPER FOR OD COMMITTEE
HOUSING FOR REFUGEES
1. OD (89)4th commissioned my predecessor to prepare a paper on ways in which Vietnamese and other refugees entering the UK could be prevented from adding to demand for subsidised housing and
other publicly provided assistance in the areas where public
provision is already overstretched. This paper sets out the
options.
The Problem
2.
In London and the South east, there is a fundamental problem
of a chronic imbalance between the demand for housing and its
supply. There is an inexorable tendency for this imbalance to
worsen, as the prosperity of the area increases and stokes demand
while at the same time our planning and green belt policies limit
the opportunities for increasing supply. The problem gives rise
to two major difficulties:
a.
the queues for subsidised housing lengthen, driving
people to seek accommodation increasingly through the
"homelessness" route, and pushing some local authority housing departments further towards ineffectiveness and
chaos;
and
CONFIDENTIAL (1)