Mr. Mike Allen:

In general, that applies across all housing allocation. There is an official indifference to, sometimes at a political level, or serious dismissal of the fact that people like to live in particular communities and that their connections to those communities are very important to them in terms of childcare or other forms of care or social connection. Those are often not treated in the system with the seriousness they require. The Deputy is correct that this general problem is much more extreme in respect of Travellers. Certainly I have come across cases where particular Traveller families have identified certain areas which they could not go into because of other conflicts and issues to do with the past. On one level, these need to be dealt with and should not be accepted as normal in our society but, at the same time, in terms of housing allocation they have to be respected and understood. In fact, where the allocation is offered by the local authority, it seems almost deliberately to have gone against what the Traveller family has indicated is impossible for them. Then the family is told that they have turned down a reasonable offer of housing accommodation. At best, there seems to be an indifference to that and, sometimes, in some local authorities one comes across cases where the decisions that are made seem to be almost perverse. That creates an atmosphere.

There does not appear to be a system at legislative level, regulatory level or practice level of making that a mainstream part of how we respond to housing need. I would welcome if that could be highlighted. I realise it is hard to understand, when there is not enough housing, that the location of the housing is also important. One ends up almost with a beggars cannot be choosers situation, but the argument we make is that housing is a right. It is not a matter of beggars cannot be choosers. It is a right. How do we organise our society whereby we can fulfil that right? The name of Mr. O'Connor's agency is the Housing Agency, but he always reminds us that it is the housing communities agency. It is a reminder that one cannot solve the housing crisis unless one understands and respects the communities people want and need to live in. The Deputy has raised a very important point.