Landlords and councils urged to find homes for Afghan refugees

Landlords and councils urged to find homes for Afghan refugees

0:04 AM, 19th July 2023, About 10 months ago 15

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Landlords in the private rented sector and local councils are being urged by the government to help house Afghan refugees who are living in hotels and costing taxpayers £1m every day.

Speaking in Parliament, the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs Johnny Mercer called on local authorities to make use of the Government’s £285 million package of re-housing support.

The Minister, who has fought several tours of Afghanistan, is now coordinating the Government’s resettlement support for Afghans.

Landlords are also being urged to join a ‘national effort’ to support the resettlement scheme – including the provision of accommodation through their local council or via the Afghanistan Housing Portal.

Entitled to a range of support to find settled accommodation

The Afghans who are currently living in bridging accommodation are entitled to a range of support to find settled accommodation and have arrived in the UK through safe and legal routes.

They have indefinite leave to remain, the right to work, access to healthcare and access to public funds.

Mr Mercer said: “We owe a debt of gratitude to Afghans who have moved to the UK under our resettlement schemes.

“But hotel accommodation must end – it’s unfair on the Afghans living in them, unable to put down more permanent roots, and it is unfair on the taxpayer, who is currently footing the bill.”

He added: “To do this we’ve put in place extensive support, which local authorities can use in a variety of ways to support Afghans into permanent accommodation including funding for deposits, rent top ups and furniture, as well as bespoke advice from staff in hotels.”

Mr Mercer explained the situation in Parliament:

Welcomed more than 21,000 Afghan nationals

The UK has welcomed more than 21,000 Afghan nationals through its resettlement scheme following the withdrawal from the country in 2021.

Since then, thousands of Afghan nationals have been living in hotel accommodation across the country – which was never intended as a permanent solution.

To support the move into settled housing, the government has committed new funding and case working teams have been deployed to every bridging hotel in the country to give advice and guidance.

The funding package includes additional funding for Local Authorities, equivalent to £7,100 per person – which councils can spend on where they think it is needed.

The cash is already being used by some councils to help with deposits, furniture and rent, amongst other things, but council engagement across the country has been ‘inconsistent’, the government says.


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Comments

moneymanager

10:36 AM, 19th July 2023, About 10 months ago

In other words, British citizens, tax payer or not, have to bear the costs of a US instigated fake war; it is interesting to note that this piece appears at the same time as that "War on cannabis farms" before the actions in Afghanistan there was no opium production, that, and its export to the west, skyrocketed as a result

Dylan Morris

10:58 AM, 19th July 2023, About 10 months ago

They’re getting desperate now. Continuing to provide an endless supply of small boats and now they’ve got nowhere to house them. Sorry I’d really love to help but all my properties are full.

Raz

12:20 PM, 19th July 2023, About 10 months ago

If they have indefinite leave to remain and the right to work, why is their housing being paid for by by taxpayers instead of them working and paying their own rent?

Beaver

13:27 PM, 19th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Raz at 19/07/2023 - 12:20
If that's what the government wanted I think the government would need to consider how it would make housing Afghan refugees attractive to landlords; the government is already making BTL unattractive which is why many landlords have switched to short-term lets.

But for many of us the conditions imposed by our insurance and our lenders would make it impossible for us to house refugees anyway.

And if the government makes it more attractive for landlords to house refugees I suspect a lot of UK citizens who cannot afford to buy or find anywhere to rent are going to get very p****d off. That kind of thing could easily drive the kind of swing to right-wing politics that the EU is presently seeing.

The government needs to make it attractive for a landlord to put a safe roof over somebody's head, refugee or not: Full-stop.

Reluctant Landlord

16:55 PM, 19th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Raz at 19/07/2023 - 12:20
because they are bigger families and needed bigger houses (and also include multi generations). Many , do not want to live in properties where they have already been offered as it is outside the area they now live (and work/school etc)

Government made a rod for its own back on this one. If they had all been put into military bases/similar then they would have no 'local connection' and therefore no right to refuse anything that was offered. Dispersal may have been easier ....

Beaver

17:02 PM, 19th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 19/07/2023 - 16:55
We already have lots of English families (some of them of of 2nd or 3rd generation Asian origin) who have the same needs and there's a shortage of accommodation for them as well. The government might just find that there's a back-lash from these groups if they start allowing refugees to queue-jump.

Reluctant Landlord

10:52 AM, 20th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Beaver at 19/07/2023 - 17:02
already a backlash...just not reported openly...housing is so toxic any slight whiff of unfairness and things go up in flames. Easier to supress any mention of it

Look at Liverpool recently...another car set on fire outside a migrant hotel - just about made the main news....

Reluctant Landlord

10:59 AM, 20th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Raz at 19/07/2023 - 12:20because they are all claiming UC as no one wants to employ them. What qualifications do they have?
They may have worked for the government (from what we are told) and many were translaters etc...I don't suppose much call for that in the UK? (unless - total irony - they are helping process aslyum claims from others from Afghanistan?)
Anyway even if the 'man of the house' works, the women (possibly two wives?) of the house are probably unqualified/non English speakers so where are they going to work? If they have many kids, one salary wont pay for this??
Like out own home grown lot who can't be bothered - they have worked out its easier to claim....

Reluctant Landlord

11:07 AM, 20th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by Dylan Morris at 19/07/2023 - 10:58of course they are! Serco have now lifted (government allowed them to) the cap on which postcodes they can sourch properties in. At one stage last year Serco could not take on properties in certain areas due to over concentration (spread them out lesson the impact) - now its open season again! Any property in any postcode required, flats, houses and even land with services already supplied! Serco are open to considering having 'negotiations' with landowners to use modular units.
Desperation all round.....I imagine Clearsprings and Mears are doing the same...
Irony would be if a landlowner gave them a camping field and put up tents...the same accommodation they would get in a neighbouring country if they fled only next door.

Beaver

12:22 PM, 20th July 2023, About 10 months ago

Reply to the comment left by DSR at 20/07/2023 - 11:07
I'm not sure about tents but I suspect that mobile homes or static-mobile homes could be a cheaper option than hotels.

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