Migrant homes ‘to cost £1bn a year’

MigrationWatch UK said 45 extra homes would need to be built every day, the equivalent of 1,400 a month, with each one funded by a public sector grant of around £60,000.

As waiting lists for social housing have increased in England over the last eight years, the campaigners found that 80 per cent of migrants from Somalia required social housing, as did 49 per cent of those from Turkey and 41 per cent of those from Bangladesh.

Sir Andrew Green, chairman of MigrationWatch UK, said: “The impact of immigration on the availability of social housing for British people has been airbrushed out for too long.”

The report authors assumed that 20 per cent of migrant households would need social housing. Social housing units are currently funded “on average with around £60,000 of public sector grant”, taking the total cost to about £1bn a year.