The quantity of displaced migrants without a home in Glasgow has increased by two-fold in recent months due to the Home Office’s efforts to speed up their initiative to resolve the backlog of asylum cases before the end of the year.
Refugee encampments are emerging throughout London, and Liverpool’s council has declared the circumstances to be a critical emergency.
The Glasgow city council, the largest area for dispersing asylum seekers outside of London, is likely to announce a housing crisis on Thursday. This is due to the rise in referrals to homelessness assistance for individuals who have been granted permission to stay in the country. The number has increased from an average of 60 per month in the first half of the year to 176 in October and 132 in the first three weeks of November.
A study conducted by Councillor Allan Casey, the city’s leader on homelessness, also shows a significant increase in requests from individuals who have been given permission to stay in places other than Glasgow. Approximately 33% of those seeking assistance from homelessness services are from other areas in Scotland and the UK.
According to Casey, there is mounting proof that individuals who have been given refugee status are traveling to Glasgow in search of housing assistance from other locations such as Liverpool, Manchester, and Belfast. The Scottish Refugee Council also reported a similar increase.
The Home Office fails to comprehend that Scotland has more robust housing rights, including a legal obligation to provide housing for single adult males, which may be enticing people from other parts of the UK.
According to Casey, the rise in referrals has not yet met the council’s anticipated number of 1,400. This could mean that there are possibly hundreds more households requiring housing during the coldest months, with temperatures dropping to -5C overnight in the city this week.
Despite the efforts of the Scottish parliament to improve legal protections for individuals experiencing homelessness, local governments have been facing significant budget reductions in recent times.
Alison Watson, the director of Shelter Scotland, noted that the city of Glasgow has been facing a housing crisis for a significant period of time, even before the recent pressures caused by asylum decisions from the Home Office. The underlying issue is a persistent lack of social housing.
She warned that there is a risk of Scotland’s world-renowned rights only existing on paper and not in practice.
In other parts of the United Kingdom, activists and attorneys focused on human rights have been expressing concern for several months over a significant rise in people sleeping on the streets. According to the British Red Cross, it is estimated that there could be 50,000 refugees without a place to live by the end of this year.
After an asylum seeker is granted permission to stay, they must leave their government-funded housing within 28 days. It may take several weeks for them to obtain the necessary paperwork for finding a new, affordable place to live and for their universal credit requests to be handled.
Following a significant decrease in the number of individuals sleeping on the streets during the Covid crisis due to the implementation of the “everybody in” initiative, which offered secure housing for thousands of individuals, there has been an increase once again. This is due to many homeless shelters being at maximum capacity, leading to some refugees being left without shelter.
The Guardian went to a recently established camp located beneath a railway bridge in the heart of London, where an estimated 16 individuals were seeking shelter. They also found two other locations in central London where small encampments of new refugees were living in tents.
Numerous individuals residing at these locations are fleeing from Sudan and Eritrea. A Sudanese man, who goes by the name Adam (pseudonym), shared with the Guardian: “I used to reside in ‘the jungle’ in Calais for a period of time and now it feels like Calais has followed me to central London.”
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He pointed to a tent occupied by a young Eritrean married couple recently granted refugee status who they found wandering around King’s Cross station. Others were sleeping on an old sofa bed with a foam mattress that doubled up as a seating area.
A second young refugee from Sudan stated that they clean the floor around their sleeping area and dispose of any garbage every morning upon waking up. They feel responsible for maintaining their home.
The head of Liverpool city council, Cllr Liam Robinson, and Cllr Sarah Doyle, the council’s housing cabinet member, have sent a letter to Michael Gove, the secretary for levelling up, expressing concern about the urgent issue of refugee homelessness. They have been informed that approximately 1,000 asylum seekers may receive decisions on their claims before Christmas.
According to sources from the government, Liverpool has received a grant of £3.9m to prevent homelessness and aid individuals who are at risk of becoming homeless in securing housing in the private rental market.
The British government’s representative stated that Migrant Help and their collaborators provide assistance to newly recognized refugees. This includes guidance on how to apply for universal credit, enter the job market, and find housing support. We collaborate with local authorities to support communities in handling the effects of asylum decisions.
Paul McLennan, Scotland’s housing minister, expressed concern over the Home Office’s decision to expedite the processing of asylum claims. He believes this decision was made without proper consideration and has hindered the ability of local authorities to make adequate plans, potentially leading to increased instances of homelessness and poverty.
Emma Roddick, the Minister for Migration and Refugees, has sent a letter to the UK government requesting that they provide earlier funding for local authorities to handle the current influx of migrants and refugees.
Source: theguardian.com
