Refugees who have received a positive decision from the Home Office confirming their right to remain in the UK are entitled to benefits and access to housing.

Liverpool City Council and its partners, including many housing associations, should be applauded for their initiative to provide housing and support packages to refugees who have had to move on from their National Asylum Support Service-contracted accommodation.

This is just one of the many examples of good practice identified by HACT and the Joseph Rowntree Foundation-funded Refugee and Housing Network, which HACT coordinates.

However, Richard Kemp ("Think Tank", 21 February 2003, page 34) could have been even stronger in highlighting the need for government departments, including the Home Office, to provide a more effective joined-up policy and administrative framework for the settlement and inclusion of refugees, particularly in areas of dispersal that have little, if any, experience of working with refugee communities.

As Richard outlined, a fundamental problem with the current system is that NASS is failing to provide refugees who must leave their NASS accommodation with adequate notice. Many do not get even the 28 days to which they are entitled. Thousands more are in emergency accommodation and only get seven days' notice.

This is why so many end up sleeping on friends' and relatives' floors, or presenting themselves as homeless. Not surprisingly, people living in NASS accommodation immediately before becoming homeless are fast becoming the largest proportion of priority acceptances in many areas of dispersal.

It should also be noted that, technically, the NASS35 letter to which Richard refers is only relevant in so far as it confirms an entitlement to backdated benefits for those refugees who are actually accepted as refugees under the UN Convention.

And this is not the majority (as Richard states), but only about a third of those who get to stay. Most refugees receive exceptional leave to remain, which entitles them to housing and other benefits but not to the backdate. However, Richard is quite right to clarify that people should not be denied access to their national insurance number and benefits simply because they do not have this letter.

NASS-contracted accommodation providers can be penalised if they don't evict people who've received their decision, so if NASS gets tougher there could be an even greater tide of homelessness resulting from this administrative bungling.

Concerted, coordinated action is urgently required by relevant government departments to ensure refugees receive adequate notice and to encourage local authorities to work in partnership with housing providers and refugee communities to develop appropriate local strategies for delivering the government's integration strategy.

Heather Petch, director, HACT and members of the Refugee and Housing Network including: Ann Branson, service director of housing, renewal and options, Leicester City Council; Sandy Buchan, chief executive, Refugee Action; John Butler, chief executive, Portsmouth Housing Association; Alison Feeney, head of policy, Refugee Council; Vaughan Jones, director, Praxis; Jon Lord, housing and special needs coordinator, Bolton Metropolitan Borough Council; Bill Payne, chief executive, Yorkshire Housing; Anil Singh, chief executive, Manningham Housing Association; Clare Tickell, chief executive, Stonham Housing Association (and chair of the Refugee and Housing Network); Simon Underwood, managing director, BOW; Daoud Zaaoura, chief executive, North East Refugee Service

Source

Housing Today