Young refugees are at unprecedented risk of homelessness
Lisa Matthews, Policy & Campaigns Manager
Receiving a positive decision on your asylum claim should be moment of great relief – time to begin a new chapter of your life, in safety, and look to the future.
But – because of mishandling of the asylum backlog which has meant hundreds of thousands of asylum applications have sat undecided for months and years - this moment of celebration has become a moment of crisis.
In the past, people who were housed in asylum accommodation while waiting for a decision on their case were given 28 days’ notice that they would have to leave that accommodation after being recognised as a refugee (after being recognised as a refugee, someone can access mainstream homelessness support and benefits, like British citizens can). 28 days is not enough time to get through all the necessary systems needed to prevent someone ending up sleeping on the streets. The government’s own position is that at least 56 days is needed in order to prevent homelessness.
And yet, since August 2023 newly recognised refugees have been receiving just seven days’ notice that they have to leave their asylum accommodation.
Seven days’ notice that you will be made homeless … after waiting two years for a decision on your asylum application.
This is what happened to Mohammed from Syria, and Ahmed from Sudan, and Khalid from Syria, and Samuel from Eritrea. These are all young people we’re working with at Young Roots (we’ve changed their names to protect their identity).
Seven days is not enough time for people to find their own accommodation to prevent homelessness.
Seven days is not enough time to prove that someone is vulnerable and therefore ‘priority need’ and housed by the local authority – especially as the issues that make someone vulnerable take time and trust to explore and evidence.
It is important that the Home Office are finally making some progress on the asylum backlog but the mismanaged way of doing this (a huge backlog growing for years then making large numbers of decisions in a very short period) at the same of time as giving newly recognised refugees much less notice that they will be made homeless has created a crisis. Already underfunded homelessness services and organisations cannot cope with the sudden peak in need; refugee charities like Young Roots are working ceaselessly with an ever-growing number of young people in this situation – doing everything we can to try and prevent young refugees ending up sleeping on the streets.
Our Caseworkers are spending hours each week advocating for young refugees to make sure that those who are vulnerable are recognised as priority need and therefore legally entitled to accommodation to prevent them being homeless.
They are also spending hours finding alternative solutions for young people who haven’t been accepted to be priority need – but in a situation when more people than ever need these solutions. The Big Issue has reported that in London (where we work), the change in Home Office practice has led to a doubling in the number of rough sleepers who have recently left asylum accommodation.