TNAG-1903-FCO40-2705-Hong-Kong-cabinet-meetings-on-Vietnamese-refugees-1990 — Page 32

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)