HC Deb 24 July 1958 vol 592 cc657-8
20. Mrs. Butler

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department how many British refugees from Egypt are not yet settled in homes of their own; and what further action he is proposing to take, through the Anglo-Egyptian Resettlement Board, to provide permanent housing accommodation for them.

Miss Hornsby-Smith

About 550 refugees are still in hostels, and about a further 300 are being helped by the Board, though living in private accommodation. These include dependants, and about 100 people who hope to emigrate. The Board has a number of schemes for providing houses for refugees. Housing grants are made to help them to get mortgages; negotiations are conducted with local authorities for the provision of council houses; a scheme for making flatlets available will, it is hoped, be introduced shortly; and homes are being established for elderly people in need of care.

Mrs. Butler

While appreciating all that the Resettlement Board has done for these refugees, may I ask if the hon. Lady is aware that there are some in this latter category who are not eligible for mortgages for house purchase, and who would find difficulty in meeting monthly instalments even if they could obtain mortgages? Can she say whether one of the schemes that the Board is considering is that of purchasing houses and letting them at a reasonable rent to some of these families?

Miss Hornsby-Smith

I appreciate what the hon. Lady says, but, in fact, one of the difficulties is that some of the expellees would not be in a position to continue the mortgage payments even if they had an initial loan from the Board. I do not think that there is any prospect of the Board itself, which is a temporary organisation, undertaking to buy houses for refugees, and so becoming a landlord. One of the further difficulties is that so many of the refugees want to concentrate on London. Although we have opportunities of a hundred houses elsewhere, they have not been taken up because the refugees desire to concentrate on London, where it is more difficult than anywhere else to obtain council houses.