The chair of the Housing Corporation has called on housing professionals to "stand up and be counted" in the fight to integrate asylum seekers into British society.
Baroness Brenda Dean was speaking in the wake of home secretary David Blunkett's comments last month about a racist backlash against refugees.

Dean said: "Blunkett was referring to communities we're working in. It's up to leaders like us to stand up and be counted and we will not tolerate a failure to do this by housing associations.

"We are going through sensitive times and it is absolutely essential that we all stand up for our multicultural society. All our communities are central to social cohesion. I shudder when I hear some of the things said in the media.

"We cannot in any way be bullied away from policies which enhance all the communities in which we live."

Speaking at a housing conference run by the London borough of Brent last Thursday, Dean added that housing bodies had made great strides to tackle racism in recent years, but that there was still much to be done.

Jheni Williams, interim executive director of the Federation of Black Housing Organisations, echoed Dean's words at the same event.

Williams said: "There is still work to be done. We need role models that will engender hope for future generations. Until we cannot open the pages of magazines like Housing Today and be shocked by discrimination, the FBHO will still be needed."

In response, the chief executive of a large housing association said: "The evidence [of racism] is there; year after year we don't see the improvements expected. But there is a willingness to change."

In her speech, Dean also pledged to tackle homelessness in cities by working with charities, councils and businesses to free up vacant publicly and privately owned properties.

Source

Housing Today