Is Duncan Hunt (Opinion, February 2) aware of the HOMES mobility scheme supported by the Government that helps people to move from one area to another?

To qualify, the applicant needs to have a job in the new area or a relative or well-known friend.

Asylum seekers do not need to know anyone in the area they are sent to, neither do they need to have a job.

Local people who are unemployed, trapped in poor accommodation and on the housing waiting list may perceive this as giving asylum seekers preferential treatment.

Both groups, it seems to me, have very little choice and are isolated by the widening forms of social segregation in our society.

Labour mobility is crucial to the economy yet there is no integrated regional housing and employment policy.

Key workers such as the police, teachers and nurses cannot afford homes in the South East. The Brighton and Hove housing waiting list is 3,000 and growing.

Along with the shortfall in affordable homes there is the shortage of workers in key sectors such as the IT industry.

Globalisation is not going to go away. It's far better to anticipate its developmental shortfalls and lacunae and plan for them, rather than allow problems such as irregular migration and homelessness to get out of hand.

But are any of our elected representatives up to the job?

-Kathleen McMullen, Lorna Rd, Brighton and Hove City