Shadow Housing Minister GRANT SHAPPS MP Visits UR4Jobs2010|2009
Grant Shapps MP, shadow housing minister, yesterday told charities, the Upper Room and the Simon Community that setting house building targets is `crazy` , and that he strongly disapproves of the governments `top down` policy for getting Britain's homeless off the streets and into long term accommodation. The government is aiming to build 3 million new homes by 2020.Speaking at the Upper Room homelessness project, at St. Saviours Church, Cobbold Road, Hammersmith, Shapps admitted that setting targets like this `distorts the priorities`. He said “it’s not how many houses you have, it’s the kind of houses you have – and whether they suit different people at different situations in their lives”.
Shapps, who spent Christmas Eve 2007 sleeping rough outside London`s Victoria station added “What I`m interested in is how to get more accurate numbers, in order to better understand the situation.”. He acknowledged that the current homelessness figures are risible. In response to Philip Burke`s comment that the transitional aspects of the Accession Treaty of 2004 had left thousands of migrants homeless, and made to feel like second class citizens, he said, that he intended to write a report about this particular issue.
Janie Kidston, manager at the Upper Room said “eastern Europeans are contributing to the economy at a high monitory level. However, for the significant minority, who are sleeping rough or living in squats, there is no official safety net for when things go wrong”.
UR4Jobs has taken the initiative of compiling the largest online database of European immigrants which will provide more accurate figures. Other organisations are invited to participate. The database provides a detailed profiling of each immigrant including their health, work and housing status, work skills, qualifications and work experience. The statistics are very revealing.