Designing homelessness out of the asylum and immigration system
As a signatory on the open letter below, SJOG is actively addressing these issues in its work as the largest provider of safe houses to people who have been trafficked or subject to modern day slavery, in its work at Olallo House, and in partnership with the Good Shepherd. Much is being done to tackle homelessness, but there is so much more to be done.
Dear Party Leaders,
We write to you as organisations and charities, many of us frontline services, that support and advocate for migrants experiencing, and at risk of, homelessness and destitution due to the asylum and immigration system.
We believe that the General Election provides an important opportunity for the next government to end homelessness for everyone.
Homelessness has a devastating impact on people and communities. It strips people of dignity and agency, puts them at risk, and prevents them from thriving and fully participating in their communities and wider society. No one should become, or remain, homeless because of their immigration status or their interaction with the asylum system.
However, due to the current asylum and immigration system, many migrants are made much more vulnerable to experiencing homelessness, or face additional barriers to moving on from homelessness, than people with British citizenship. Preventing homelessness must be considered an essential part of the asylum and immigration system, alongside greater collaboration with housing, welfare, voluntary and statutory services, and improved recourse to justice through our legal systems.
Together, the next government, alongside charities and people with lived experience, can deliver both the immediate and long-term changes needed to ensure the asylum and immigration system no longer drive migrants into homelessness, and instead contributes to preventing and ending homelessness for all.
To achieve this, the next government should ensure that;
- A cross-departmental approach is taken to tackling rough sleeping and homelessness.
- Changes to the immigration and asylum system do not actively contribute to an increase in migrant homelessness.
- The flow of homelessness from the asylum system is stopped.
- Fair access to quality legal advice is improved and expanded.
- The impact of restrictions on public funds on homelessness are confronted and addressed.
Finally, any government that is committed to ending homelessness must focus on evidence-based solutions, including those set out above, that will strengthen our communities for the benefit of all, rather than divide and weaken them through punitive, discriminatory policies and inflammatory rhetoric that scapegoat and marginalise migrants.
No strategy to end homelessness can be achieved without ending homelessness for everyone and that must include those made homeless because of the immigration and asylum system. We stand ready to collaborate with the next government to deliver the changes needed to achieve this.
Yours sincerely,
Rick Henderson, CEO, Homeless Link
Bridget Young, Director, NACCOM
Matt Downie, Chief Executive, Crisis
Enver Solomon, Chief Executive, Refugee Council
Andrea Cleaver, CEO, Welsh Refugee Council Emma
Haddad, Chief Executive, St Mungos
Polly Neate, CEO, Shelter
Alison Watson, Director, Shelter Scotland
Shān Nicholas, Interim Chief Executive, Praxis
Kate Henderson, CEO, National Housing Federation
Dr Jan Sheldon, Chief Executive, St Martins
Paul Kissack, Group Chief Executive, Joseph Rowntree Foundation and Joseph Rowntree Housing Trust
Phil Kerry, Chief Executive, New Horizon
Charlotte Talbott, Chief Executive, Emmaus UK
Bonnie Williams, CEO, Housing Justice
Natalie King, Head of Development, St Martin-in-the-Fields Charity
Steve Crane, CEO, Target Housing
Jayni Gudka, CEO, Unseen Tours
Jodie Geddes, CEO, AMAT UK
John Holmstrom, Chief Executive, Turning Tides
Andrew Redfern, Chief Executive, Framework
Luke O'Neil, Assistant Director, Cranstoun
Liz Rutherfoord, Chief Executive, Single Homeless Project
Rob Payne, Director of Homeless services, HOPE Worldwide
Marie Davie, CEO, Falcon Support Services
Paul Roberts, CEO, Aspire Oxford
Haley Roberge, Project Worker, Barons Court Project
Lawrence Santcross, Chief Executive, Transform
Ewan Aitken, Chief Executive Officer, Cyrenians
James Martin, Director, Cambridge Cyrenians
Mel Steel, Director, Voices in Exile
Kerry Smith, CEO, Helen Bamber Foundation
Rachael Bee, Director: Partnerships, Refugee Welcome Homes
Amanda Dubarry, Chief Executive, Your Place
Fatou Cham Gitteh, Founding Trustee, Ubuntu-Glasgow
Amanda Croome, Head of Homelessness, Caritas Diocese of Salford
Jared Hodgson, CEO, Hope at Home
Ros Holland, Chief Exec, Boaz Trust
Andy Durma, Interim Chief Executive, West End Refugee Service
Louise Calvey, Executive Director, Asylum Matters
Richard Gammage, Chief Executive, Two Saints
Tom O’Connor, CEO, Providence Row
Phil Davis, Director, Hope Projects
Aderonke Apata, Founder and CEO, African Rainbow Family
Jonny Whitehead, CEO, Herts Young Homeless
Sian Summers-Rees, CO, City of Sanctuary UK
William Gomes, Director, The William Gomes Podcast
John Glenton, Executive Director of Care and Support, The Riverside Group
Amanda Church-Mcfarlane, Co-CE0, Abigail Housing
Maya Esslemont, Director, After Exploitation
Zoe Gardner, Independent Migration Policy Researcher
Denise McDowell, Chief Executive, Greater Manchester Immigration Aid Unit
David Powles, CEO, Norfolk Community Law Service
Tim Naor Hilton, Chief Executive, Refugee Action
Emma Hutton, CEO, JustRight Scotland
Natalie Allen, Chief Executive Officer, SIFA Fireside
Joanne MacInnes, Director, West London Welcome
Eiri Ohtani, Director, Right to Remain
Eleanor Brown, CEO, CARAS
Dr. Nazee Akbari, Chief Executive Officer, New Citizens’ Gateway
Traci Kirkland, Head of Charity, Govan Community Project
Catharine Walston, Trustee, Cambridge Refugee Resettlement Campaign
Sarah Forster, Director, Scottish Child Law Centre
Christine Mathewson, Trustee, RADAR
Aaliya Seyal, Chief Executive Officer, Legal Services Agency
Lisa Norcross, Project Manager, Kairos Housing
Béatrice Humarau, Executive Coordinator, The Bridge Plus+
Mariam Yusuf, Co-Chair Person, StatusNow4All Network
Andrea Vukovic, Deputy Director, Women for Refugee Women
Ted Britton, Chair of Trustees, West Yorkshire Destitute Asylum Network (WYDAN)
Mhairi Snowden, Director, Human Rights Consortium Scotland
Rob Edmonds, Deputy CEO/Head of Services, New Hope
Nick Redmore, Territorial Director, The Salvation Army Homelessness Services
Paul Bott, CEO, SJOG Hospitaller Services
Dom Wood, CEO, 1625 Independent People
Tim Fallon, Chief Executive, SPEAR
Paola Uccellario, CEO, Young Roots
Zita Holbourne, Co-founder & National Chair, BARAC UK
Salma Ravat, CEO, One Roof Leicester
Dilara Harvey-Smith, Director, Room to Heal
Adam Colthorpe, Director of communications, Porchlight
Jo Carter, CEO, Glass Door Homeless Charity
Mariko Hayashi, Executive Director, Southeast and East Asian Centre
Sam Price, CEO, Beyond Detention
Sarah Wilson, Director, Penrith and Eden Refugee Network
Susan Cueva, Trustee, Gabriela Safehaven - Southeast and East Asian Women Association
James Boultbee, CEO, Wycombe Homeless Connection
Gisela Valle, Director, LAWRS Rainbow Migration
David Ford, CEO and Founder, Expert Link
Shari Brown, Chair, Birmingham City of Sanctuary
Sophie Wickham, Director, Action for Refugees in Lewisham
Frankie Gaynor, Advocacy Manager, Migrant Democracy Project
Rabbi David Mason, Executive Director, HIAS+JCORE
Stuart Crosthwaite, Secretary, South Yorkshire Migration and Asylum Action Group
Gavin Smart, CEO, Chartered Institute of Housing
Sebastian Rocca, Founder and CEO, Micro Rainbow
Ekta Marwaha, Chief Executive Officer, Refugee Sanctuary Scotland
Lesley Howard, Head of Homelessness, Change Grow Live
Ewan Roberts, Centre Manager, Asylum Link Merseyside
Seana Roberts, Manager, Merseyside Refugee Support Network
Yvonne Pinner, Project Director, Oxfordshire Homeless Movement
Simon Tyler, Executive Director, Doctors of the World UK
Qerim Nuredini, Interim Director, Bristol Hospitality Network
Lauren Scott, CEO, Refugees at Home
Nick Beales, Head of Campaigning, Refugee & Migrant Forum of Essex and London RAMFEL
Becky Hellewell, Head of Support & Immigration, St Augustines Centre
Sarah Lister, COO, Oasis Community Housing
Tim Archbold, Chief Executive Officer, Signposts
Sarah Teather, Director, Jesuit Refugee Service UK
Kenneth Marshall, Principal Solicitor, Dundee Law Centre
Mick Clarke, Chief Executive, The Passage
Ailsa Dunn, Secretary, Hay Brecon and Talgarth Sanctuary for Refugees
Joanna Pieńkowska, Policy and Campaigns Coordinator, Haringey Migrant Support Centre
Geeta Nanda OBE, Chief Executive, Metropolitan Thames Valley
Maggie Brünjes, Chief Executive, Homeless Network Scotland
Dr Beth Watts-Cobbe, Senior Research Fellow and Deputy Director, Institute of Social Policy, Housing and Equalities Research
Anika Joy, Programme Director, Simon Community Scotland
Nicola McCrudden, Chief Executive Officer, Homeless Connect