New Migration, Class and Housing David Robinson University of St Andrews, 17 th June 2015.

New Migration, Class and Housing

David Robinson

University of St Andrews, 17th June 2015

• new phase of migration since the 1990s

• dramatic rise in number of foreign nationals arriving in the UK

• drawn from a wide range of countries of origin

• proliferation of migration channels and legal statuses

• new geography of settlement

• discussion / debate about impacts of new migration coalesced

around the issue of housing

My starting point

• the housing experiences of migrant households within the

housing system (pathways of integration)

• impact of migration on the housing market

• consequences of competition for the scarce resource that is

housing (for example, on community relations)

• emerging inequalities

• the restructuring of the city

The research challenge

• tendency for discussion and debate to be isolated from history

• neglecting the wealth of research on race and housing in the context of post-war immigration

• are there continuities / lessons to be shared?

(Dis)continuities with the past

Rex and Moore (1967) Community and Conflict: a Study of Sparkbrook

Revisiting Rex and Moore (1967)

• use of class in the Weberian sense of being based on common life chances

• spotlighting consumption (in addition to production) processes

• recognise that economic positions are overlaid by social and political order

• access to housing more than a function of socio-economic status alone

• conceptualise urban social groups in terms of a struggle over the allocation of scarce resources (housing)

• 1960s Birmingham - ethnicity a key issue in determining access

• linked to disadvantage and discrimination in the market and in public-sector housing allocation

• outcome expressed in terms of the formation of different housing classes

• distinct experiences of white and BME working class more than consequence of choice and cultural preference

Rex and Moore (1967)

• key determinant of position in the housing market is position in the labour-market (primacy of social class)

• status-linked advantages and disadvantages (inc racism) are the real source of the problems faced by particular ethnic groups

• simplistic to presume everyone is struggling toward the same goal (e.g. suburban home ownership)

• BUT.......

Rex and Moore were not without their critics....

• placed the struggle over scare resources at the centre of social and spatial dynamics

of the city

• provided the foundation for an enduring model re: the market positions occupied by

different ethnic groups in the context of post-war migration (constrained choices)

• prompted systematic analysis of the extent of racial inequalities in housing over

subsequent decades (see Smith, 1992; Tomlins, 1999; Harrison and Phillips, 2003)

Contemporary relevance?

• State, third-sector and community interventions have certainly done much to mitigate the extreme racialized divisions and conditions observed by Rex and Moore in the 1960s, but newness, outsider status (legal and socially constructed), poverty, fear of harassment and lack of entitlements still shape newcomers’ life chances, housing experiences, personal security and locational options. (Phillips, 2015)

A seminal text, nonetheless....

Revisiting Rex and Moore (1967).....three key insights

Parallels between past and present

1. Housing as source of tension and conflict in context of severe housing shortage

2. Limited financial resources and restricted access to social housing directing migrants into the lower end of the PRS and poor quality accommodation

Diverging from the past - from progressive to retrogressive integration

3. The changing socio-economic system of housing

• prescience of migrant housing exps for increasing swathe of the UK (English?) population

• context = neoliberal governmentality - housing, welfare and labour market reforms

• revealing the pre-eminence of social class distinctions

Overview of my argument.....

1. Housing Conflict Model

• housing shortage a crucial factor behind 'racial' conflict (Rex and Moore, 1967)

• one of the first investigations of the roots of white prejudices and local resistance to residential change

• "major cities were drawing in migrants to fill key positions in the local labour market but making no provision of extra housing or other services to meet the needs of the new arrivals. The latter thus found themselves in competition and potential conflict with local residents for the housing and services that were available. In public discussions in Birmingham this conflict was increasingly being expressed in racial terms" (Moore, 2011)

• the segregation, stratification and conflicts seen in Birmingham could in large part be explained by reference to housing 'classes' which derived not from residents' relations to the means of production but to housing..... Unemployment was at a very low level in Birmingham and the main conflicts appeared to be over access to services and, crucially, to housing (Moore, 2011)

The 1960s

• ..there was widespread disquiet amongst Birmingham people at the presence in their midst of over 50,000 coloured immigrants. This disquiet did not arise principally from the employment situation, for Birmingham was one of the most affluent and fully employed cities in Britain. What did cause anxiety was the housing situation and in particular the fact that, at a time when there seemed little prospect of reducing the housing waiting list of 30,000, large areas of the city, thought to be reasonably good residential areas, had become homes of coloured immigrants and were deteriorating rapidly. Almost invariably the question of colour was discussed in relation to housing problems

• Our own study of these problems in no way supported the conclusion that the influx of coloured immigrants had, through its sheer numbers, made Birmingham's housing situation worse.

Rex and Moore (1967) p19-20

• resonates with 2014.........

• migrants = convenient folk devil

• housing = a key issue around which popular and political debate about the impacts of migration has coalesced

• anti-immigration groups and far-right parties frequently place housing at the centre of their campaigns

• claims that British citizens losing in out in the competition for housing

• "one of the most frequently alleged injustices of new immigration" (Trevor Phillips, 2007)

• housing as a social force, promoting conflict

Robinson (2010a)

2014 - Blaming Migration for the Housing Crisis

Let's talk about migration (but not housing)

"More than one third of all new housing demand in Britain is caused by immigration. And there is evidence that without the demand caused by mass immigration, house prices could be ten per cent lower over a twenty year period."

Theresa May (2012)

"we cannot have a culture of something for nothing. New migrants should not expect to be given a home on arrival. And yet at present almost one in ten new social lettings go to foreign nationals. So, I am going to introduce new statutory housing allocation guidance this spring to create a local residence test. "

David Cameron (2012)

"Given that we’ve got a housing shortage, any influx from Romania and Bulgaria is going to cause problems"

Eric Pickles (2013)

"The public don’t like the way that taxpayer-subsidised social housing is allocated, when foreign migrants can benefit over local people and members of the armed forces,” “This perception of unfairness undermines community cohesion and fuels further unsustainable immigration.”

Eric Pickles (2013)

Migration increases demand and drives rises in rent levels

"rents overall have been largely unaffected, as some [migrants] have crowded into existing properties and rented poor quality housing shunned by the local population" House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee (2008)

Migration increases demand and drives rises in house prices

• migration = minor factor behind rising demand / prices

• price rises in London high-end market; price drop in some poorer neighbourhoods

• zero net migration - still need ~ 250,000 new homes p.a. (Nickell, 2011)

Migrants are unfairly advantaged in the allocation of social housing and gaining access ahead of UK citizens

• eligibility of foreign nationals tightly governed by statutory regulations

• migrants rarely skilled players of the welfare system

• entering social housing in relatively small numbers (Robinson, 2010b)

Three key accusations

Yes - discursively distinct

• migrants portrayed as a threat in the competition for scarce housing resources

• conflict often expressed in racial terms - migrants blamed for housing crisis

• housing as an autonomous field of conflict

BUT

• conflict over housing in the context of migration represents conflict within, rather than between, a social class

• organisational energy being squandered against allies rather than opponents (Bell, 1977)

• meanwhile…..the housing crisis goes unaddressed

Migrants as a distinct housing class?

2. Migrant Housing Experiences

• focus on consumption, as well as production processes

• access more than a function of socio-economic status alone (Rex, 1971)

• choices within a greater system of constraints than other housing classes

• immigrants as a distinct housing class

• immigrants to the city lacked the sizeable and secure income necessary to raise a loan for house purchase

• excluded from local authority housing by prior-residence qualification

• discriminatory practice of key gatekeepers in the housing system (estate agents, letting agents, landlords etc.)

• forced into sub-standard multi-occupied dwellings supplied by private landlords in the inner city - "twilight zone" (Rex and Moore, 1967)

• resonates with 2014.....

1960s

• migrants earn less than British-born counterparts when first find work: over 30% less for men and 15% less for women (Dickens and McKnight, 2008)

• high incidence of temporary work; agency working; non‐standard and unsocial hours (Jayaweera and Anderson, 2008)....unpredictability of work and incomes

• lack financial resources to access owner occupation

• restricted eligibility to social housing...

• directed to lower end of PRS by financial prerogative to minimise costs and maximise capital accumulation

• poor living conditions and overcrowding

• inability to pay deposits required by landlords can limit migrants to a ‘migrant housing market’ accessed via word of mouth (Spencer et al. 2007; Phillimore et al., 2008)

• income minimising strategies can involve sharing accommodation with other households and absorbing newcomers to share costs (Datta et al., 2006)

• evidence of people staying with friends or ‘hot bedding’ to minimise housing costs (Netto et al., 2011; McNaughton, 2008; Dench et al., 2006; Wilkinson, 2012)

• basic material needs often not met; security of tenure absent; struggle to maintain place in the housing system - homelessness (Robinson et al., 2007)

2014

Tenure by Nationality (LFS quarterly, April-June 2013)

Tenure UK EEA other EU 8 EU 2 Non EEA

Owned outright 28 25 3 2 17

Being bought with mortgage or loan 42 31 12 12 32

Rented 29 43 84 85 51

Total 100 100 100 100 100

Of those renting, type of landlord

Local Authority 30 18 10 2 21

Housing Association 27 14 8 2 16

Private Rented 43 68 82 96 63

Total 100 100 100 100 100

Social renting

• the return of the local residency test to social housing – an overtly discriminatory

practice thought to have been consigned to the history books (Ratcliffe, 1999)

• expectation that LAs use the residence test (Cameron, 2013).... localism?

• restricted access to Housing Benefit

• closing key housing option for refugees (Phillips, 2006; Robinson et al., 2007)

• grappling with bureaucracy and discrimination.... in the context of increasingly

light touch regulation (serious detriment test)

PRS

• new requirement on private landlords to check the immigration status of new

tenants - incentivising discrimination?

Limits on the Housing Rights of Migrants (England)

Yes - operationally distinct

• particular dimensions of prejudice (subjective, institutional, structural)

• BUT...a complex patchwork of status linked advantages and disadvantages

o e.g. cf migrant workers and Housing Benefit recipients in PRS

Furthermore ....

• increasing numbers of people (migrants AND non-migrants) are exposed to similar privations....in the labour market and the housing system

• the pre-eminence of social class?

Migrants as a distinct housing class?

3. Breaking with the Past - Retrogressive Integration

1960s-90s - Progressive Integration

• challenging racism and inequality

• long march to social citizenship rights

• in context of liberal welfare state

2015 - Retrogressive Integration

• growing inequality

• erosion of social citizenship rights

• in the context of a neoliberal state

The pathway to integration - housing

From Progressive to Retrogressive Convergence

Immigrant Households

lack the income to raise a loan excluded from council housing discrimination in the market HMOs in PRS

1960s – 2000s

Progressive Convergence

slow march toward equality challenging racism / discrimination Race Relations legislation multiculturalism BME-led housing; CRE; Housing Corp within a welfare liberal state

Improved Opportunities / Outcomes

securing social citizenship rights increasing housing choices OO and social renting greater security / improved conditions

2015

Retrogressive Convergence

entrenched insecurity and precariousness neoliberal housing and welfare reforms key exclusionary processes impacting on

migrants and UK nationals pre-eminence of labour market position as

determinant of housing market position within neoliberal state

Reduced Opportunities / Outcomes

extraordinary prescience of the migrant housing experience housing options increasingly limited to renting more expensive; less regulated; more precarious wide-spread exclusion from social citizenship rights (secure,

decent, affordable housing)

New Migrant Households

lack of financial resources to access OO limited eligibility to social housing discrimination in the market directed to low grade PRS

In the labour market

• Declining wage growth / rising inflation / rise of insecure, low paid work - mirroring migrant worker experiences

o sharp rise in zero hours contracts - estimated 2.7m zero-hour contracts in Britain (ONS, 2014); fewer hours work, lower gross pay, fewer entitlements; under-employment

o sharp rise in underemployment - 2008-2012 - increase of 674,000 in pt workers wanting ft work (now 3 mill+) (Bell and Blanchflower, 2013)

o agency workers - estimates vary - ~1.3 million (2008); 17,000 agencies

o rising inequality - increasing gap between rich and poor - rise and rise in Gini coefficient; disproportionate impact of austerity - poorest 10th to see 38% fall in income 2010-15 (Oxfam, 2014)

The prescience of the migrant experience (i)

In the housing system

• life in the neoliberal housing system...mirroring migrant experiences

o owner occupation increasingly out of reach

o the end of social housing as we known it

o increasing reliance on the (deregulated) PRS

o lacking resources, constrained by the market, exercising limited choice

o exposed to pressures / privations apparent in migrant experiences

o exclusion from social citizenship rights - decent, secure, affordable housing

The prescience of the migrant experience (ii)

Owner Occupation

PrivateRenting

SocialRenting

1982 58.6 11.0 30.4

1992 68.2 9.0 22.82002 70.5 10.3 20.7

2012 65.2 18.0 16.8

Trends in Housing Tenure (England)

Source: DCLG (2014) English Housing Survey Headline Report. London: DCLG

Trends in Tenure (Survey of English Housing, 2015)

• focus of mortgage lenders increasingly = landlords providing accommodation for households that might previously entered owner-occupation

• increase in income and deposit (20+%) required to secure loan - difficulties making move from renting to ownership

• 2013-14 - almost half (48%) of all households in England aged 25-34 rented privately, up from 21% in 2003-04

• over same period owner occupation in this age group dropped from 59% to 36%.

Owner occupation out of reach

RegionAverage House Price for first time buyers ONS figures 2014 

Current median annual wage ONS ASHE 2014

Required average annual wageAt present

 UK £202,765  £22,044  £40,553 

 London £384,856  £27,999  £76,971 

 South East £230,049  £24,391  £46,010 

 South West £179,204  £20,690  £35,841 

 East Midlands £136,366 £20,890  £27,273 

 East of England £180,331  £23,271  £40,074 

 West Midlands £145,394  £20,431  £29,079 

 North East £118,081  £20,149  £23,616 

 North West £131,977  £20,723  £26,395 

 Yorkshire £132,143  £20,223  £26,429 

 Wales £129,546  £20,021  £25,909 

 Scotland £133,938  £21,770  £26,788 

Northern Ireland £106,094 £18,857 £21,219 

KPMG / Shelter (2015)

Ratio of house prices to earnings (England)

diminishing stock base; restricted access; affordability problems; insecurity

Shortfall in supply

• 1.5 million people on waiting list

• 1997/98 - 2012/13 - 456,570 social completions; 643,833 social sales (DCLG, 2014)

• fall of 100,000 in number of social renters between 2001-2011

• 50%+ cut in Affordable Housing Programme; reliance on private finance (future viability)

• forced sale of most valuable LA properties to fund extension of RTB to housing assoc tenants

Tenure reform (Localism Act, 2011)

• restricted access to waiting list - focus on 'deserving poor'

• flexible tenancies ("stepping stone" tenure)

• 'affordable' rents - 80% of market rents

Welfare reform and Housing Benefit

• increase in non-dependent deductions; Bedroom Tax; Benefit Cap

• payment of Housing Benefit to individuals rather than direct to landlords

The demise of social housing (in England)?

(In)Security

• assured shorthold tenancies - possession with 2 months' notice

• < 20% private renters resident in accom for 5+ years (62% social tenants)

Condition

• 33% of stock non-decent (compared to 15% social housing)

Affordability

• 55% LAs have a median private rent for a 2 bed property that is more than 35% of median take home pay in the area (Shelter, 2011)

Welfare reform and Local Housing Allowance

• maximum LHA rent reduced; indexation reduced

• increase age limit for shared room rate from 25 to 35 years

• proposal to end LHA to unemployed young people between 18-21

Regulation

• no overarching statutory regulation

Private renting - 1 in 5 in England (50% in London)

1. Housing as a source of tension and conflict - 1960s and 2015

2. Migrants directed to lower end of PRS and poor quality accommodation - 1960s and 2015

3. Convergence in housing situations and experiences - 1960s and 2015

BUT

• retrogressive (2015) rather than progressive (1960s-)

• prescience of migrant housing experiences for increasing numbers of UK population

• pre-eminence of social class distinctions

In summary

Bell, B. and Blanchflower, D. (2013) Underemployment in the UK Revisited , 2013 224: F8 National Institute Economic Review

Bell, C (1977) On Housing Class. Journal of Sociology March 1977 vol. 13 no. 1 36-40.

Chandler, M. (2014) People in employment reporting a zero hours contract, London: ONS.

Dickens, R. and McKnight, A. (2008). The changing pattern of earnings: employees, migrants and low-paid families. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

Datta, K., McIlwaine, C., Evans, Y., Herbert, J., May, J., and Wills, J. (2006). Work and survival strategies among low-paid migrants in London. London: Department of Geography, Queen Mary, University of London.

Dench, S., Hurstfield, J., Hill, D. and Akroyd K. (2006). Employers' Use of Migrant Labour. 04/06. London: Home Office.

Harrison M. and Phillips D (2003) Housing and Black and Minority Ethnic Communities: Review of the Evidence Base. Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, London.

House of Lords Economic Affairs Committee (2008) The Economic Impacts of Immigration. 1st Report of Session 2007–08. Volume 1.

Jayaweera, H. and Anderson, B. (2008). Migrant Workers and Vulnerable Employment: A review of existing data. Report for TUC Commission on Vulnerable Employment. Oxford: COMPAS.

McNaughton, C. (2008). Homelessness among A8 Nationals in the UK. Paper presented at: Housing Studies Association Annual Conference, 2 - 4 April 2008, University of York, UK.

Moore, R (2011). 'Forty Four Years of Debate: The Impact of Race, Community and Conflict'. <i>Sociological Research Online</i> 16(3)12 &lt;http://www.socresonline.org.uk/16/3/12.html&gt;.

Netto, G., Sosenko, F., and Bramley, G. (2011). A review of poverty and ethnicity in Scotland. York: Joseph Rowntree Foundation.

References

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Oxfam (2014). ‘Working for the Few. Political capture and economic inequality’. London: 178 Oxfam Briefing Paper.

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Phillips, D. (2006) Moving towards integration: the housing of asylum seekers and refugees in Britain Housing Studies, 21(4): 539-553.

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