Over the past few year, migrants in the United Kingdom have not exactly had an easy go of it. In July 2012, the Secretary of State imposed a financial requirement which fails to take into account economic disparity between the North and South, the earning potential of working mothers and the potential job prospects of the non-British partner. Following on from this, the Secretary of State then identified migrants as the cause of the UK's housing crisis.
It is interesting to note that studies have now shown that migrants are not actually the cause of the social housing crisis as 74% of recent migrants are actually living in privately rented accommodation. It is estimated that 91% of new social tenancies are being granted to UK-born citizens.
Immigration is arguably part of the solution to the housing crisis rather than the root of the problem - after all immigration is filling in the skill and labour gaps that currently exist in the construction industry as there are not enough British-born nationals interested in a career in construction.
Perhaps the Secretary of State was already aware of the fact that most migrants rent through the private sector as the new 'right to rent' checks, which come into effect on 01 February 2016, actually targets those individuals specifically. See Howard Kennedy's Right to Rent Check Guide for more information.
In a speech in December 2012, Theresa May claimed that more than a third of all new housing demand in Britain was caused by immigration. “And there is evidence that without the demand caused by mass immigration, house prices could be 10% lower over a 20-year period,” she said. The statement mirrors a common trope in any debate on the housing crisis: the idea that it is caused by mass migration, and that without migration, Britain would have no need for more housing.
http://www.theguardian.com/housing-network/2016/jan/25/is-immigration-causing-the-uk-housing-crisis
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