A London charity has helped to ease the housing crisis among Polish migrants by paying for them to travel to Northern Ireland for work.

The Passage, a homelessness charity based in Westminster, has helped seven Poles who came to London to find work after their country joined the European Union but ended up homeless.

The seven found work in a supermarket and a double-glazing warehouse in Belfast through a temping agency. Six of the group could not afford to travel to Belfast so the Passage paid £282 for their tickets. The money was to be deducted from the workers’ wages although the charity has not yet received the funds. It is holding off paying travel costs for more people until the repayment problem is resolved.

Matt Walters, project worker at The Passage, said the seven had settled into their new lives. He said: “They are very happy, working and in accommodation.”

Many homeless charities working with Polish migrants feel their housing problems would be solved if they could find decent work. Many have been tricked into coming to the UK for non-existent jobs or forced to work for derisory wages (HT 30 July, pages 24-27).

Earlier this month, charity Broadway announced plans to give homeless Poles English lessons and take them to job centres (HT 15 October, page 11).

Source

Housing Today