London, UK, August 15, 2023 — Laura Kyrke-Smith, Executive Director of IRC UK said:
“Appallingly, one in five Afghan refugees evicted so far are now presenting to local authorities as homeless. A number of our own clients have been left in the dark and anxious about what will happen on their eviction date.
We all want to see Afghan refugees secure settled accommodation, put down roots and integrate in the community in the long-term. But this transition has been executed against an impossible timeframe, without the right support in place or proper consideration given to the challenges Afghans and local authorities are facing. No refugee should face homelessness because of a government decision.
It is not too late for the government to find solutions. First, no Afghan should be evicted until they have suitable accommodation to move in to. Second, the government must provide alternative housing at scale. Although not a long-term solution, bringing forward a ‘Homes for Afghans’ scheme, building on lessons from ‘Homes for Ukraine’, could allow the British public to support refugees and prevent a cliff-edge in the short-term. Finally, a housing strategy that articulates a clear vision and plan for refugee accommodation is urgently needed reduce long-term pressures.
The top priority must be the safety and wellbeing of Afghan refugees who have endured immense hardship and now deserve to rebuild their lives and integrate. Operation Warm Welcome must not become Operation Cold Shoulder.”
The IRC spoke to some of the Afghan clients we work with who are being impacted by this government decision.
An IRC client based in Sussex, told the IRC:
“Since I have received the eviction notice, I am under huge pressure. I am not able to search for any houses myself due to language barriers. On the other hand, I continuously receive brochures and messages telling us to find accommodation as soon as possible. This has put psychological and mental pressure on everyone, including our children.
It’s also unfair that lots of people have been offered several opportunities to select their houses. While other families, including me, have never received a single offer. So, the way they approach families has never been the same.
In the last two months, I have tried my best to search and find an accommodation, but it is either rejected by the owner as we have no history of renting in the UK, or the local council has rejected these offers due to some discrepancies in their supporting budgets.
There is no communication around plan B. What if we couldn’t manage to find house, or what if [the authorities] didn’t manage to find a house for us? What will happen next. There is an absolute lack of communication and lack of information on this.”
Another client told the IRC:
“There has been a huge gap in communication between the authorities.
In many cases, we are offered a place and we have agreed to move. But after a few weeks when we have asked for the update, we are told that the place that was offered to us in first place by [the authorities], has now been given to some other families without us being in loop or knowing the reason behind that.
In some other cases, the local authorities were too late to respond to the offer of places that Afghan families themselves managed to find. They lost the offers because there was a delay in response from [the authorities].
We have left all our belongings including our beloved ones back home. We are here based on the scheme that the UK government has granted those who have put their lives in danger to support UK’s presence in Afghanistan. We were not expecting the outcome of the resettlement process to be turning up on the streets and being exposed to ‘homelessness’.”