This Saturday (10th October) is World Homelessness Day. We want to take a few minutes to use the opportunity of this day to share more about the work that we do and its importance.
Boaz exists to provide housing and specialist one-to-one support to people across Greater Manchester who are experiencing homelessness after claiming asylum. Through our work, we see each day the detrimental and long-term effects that homelessness (and destitution more broadly) has on people.
A flawed asylum system that leads to homelessness
We know that the asylum system is fundamentally flawed and, as a result, that many people are initially wrongly refused asylum. This too commonly results in individuals becoming homeless and unable to regularise their status (sometimes for many years). We’ll have more on the flaws of the asylum system, and the reasons why people are refused asylum, in the coming weeks.
Providing housing and specialist support to individuals who have been refused asylum often means that a person has the physical and mental space to re-engage with the legal system, and - with high-quality legal support (more on that here and our work with GMIAU) - a good number of people we work with go on to be granted refugee status. People like Noah:
My asylum claim was refused and I became destitute and homeless. I was very depressed and I was very hopeless. I moved from a friend’s sofa to a friend’s floor to the streets. It was very, very, very tough. And because I'm homeless and destitute, I don't have any financial support. I don't have any accommodation. And the life for me was hell.
[Boaz] helped me to submit my fresh claim. They also spoke to me about bringing new documents to support my claim. And they referred me to solicitors to help me in arranging my claim. You have to bring new evidence, new documents to support your claim and for the first interview, I didn't take any supporting documents. That is why they reject my first claim. But for the fresh claim, I took the evidence. I took documents and letters from many people and that supported my claim. And my claim was, my fresh claim was successful.”
Refugee homelessness
Sadly, we also know that even when a person is granted refugee status they are at risk of homelessness. It’s why we provide housing and specialist support for people recently granted refugee status, as well as helping people across Greater Manchester to find private rented accommodation. Despite being granted refugee status, Abel was evicted from his Home Office accommodation and, with no idea about what to do next, he ended up street homeless:
“When I was living outdoors, there was an occasion where I was sleeping outside and I had a piece of plastic to cover me whilst I slept. Ice began to accumulate on top of me, inside and outside of the plastic that I was wrapped up in overnight. It was tough and I can never forget that time, I still remember it.”
Both Noah and Abel were supported out of homelessness by Boaz. But we know that experiences like theirs are all too common for people who seek asylum in the UK.
Commitments to ending homelessness must not be undermined by Home Office policies
We welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement during his speech to the Labour Party Conference to end rough sleeping permanently; making it a national policy. We are keen to ensure that any policy to do so includes people irrespective of their immigration status (such as people with No Recourse to Public Funds). At the same time, we will continue to oppose Home Office proposals and legislation that will continue to drive up levels of homelessness and destitution.
We use the learning from our housing and support work at Boaz to inform our advocacy and influencing work and to engage in local, regional and national advocacy to positively reform the asylum system. We do this because we believe that nobody, irrespective of their immigration status, deserves to be homeless.
