The Home Office is seeking urgent help to rehouse an estimated 5000 asylum seekers affected by the termination of its contracts with two accommodation providers (HT 6 August, page 9).

The National Asylum Support Service has just 69 days to find new homes for these people after ending the agreements as part of an effort to reduce the estimated 25,000 empty beds reserved for asylum seekers.

NASS has written to local authority groups responsible for housing asylum seekers, the Citizens Advice Bureau and other interested parties, inviting them to form a steering group to work on a solution.

The first meeting is due on Tuesday. The two private contractors whose contracts were terminated, Rose Lodge and Accommodata have been invited to take part, but the remaining seven private contractors and the Safe Haven consortium of housing associations that house asylum seekers and refugees have not been contacted.

A Home Office spokesman said: “The steering group will devise the overall strategy for how the people will be rehoused. It will also give a forum for issues to be raised and resolved in the contract termination period.”

Meanwhile, the government is still to decide the fate of the private contractors and Safe Haven, whose contracts are up for renewal next April.

Heather Petch, chief executive of the Housing Associations’ Charitable Trust, said: “There’s a lot of talking going on, but we need some certainty.”

Source

Housing Today