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Action Housing exists to provide accommodation for some of the most vulnerable people in our society - destitute asylum seekers.They are men and women who came to the UK seeking safety from persecution in their home country but have since been refused protection by our government. Despite this many cannot return home. They are not allowed to work or claim benefits and have nowhere to live. This forces many underground, making them very vulnerable to exploitation. There are many individuals sleeping rough or depending on the charity of already overstretched family or friends. Research by Julian Prior (of Action Foundation) estimated the number of destitute asylum seekers in Newcastle during December 2005 to be in excess of 300 people. You can download this report, Destitute & Desperate here. Our residents come from: Cameroon, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Iran, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Liberia, Palestine, Republic of Congo, Sudan and Uganda. Many of these countries have profound human rights abuses and restrictions on basic freedoms, arbitrary and unjust detentions without trial, and regimes that use violence as a form of control. Working in partnership with local organisations and experienced individuals has been crucial to our success enabling us to move over half of our residents back into statutory funded accommodation. Our hope is that through raising awareness and campaigning we will see an end to destitution amongst asylum seekers. However, until that happens we will continue seeking to meet the accommodation needs of as many destitute asylum seekers as we can. Julian Prior is currently chairing a working group on behalf of a political think tank The Centre for Social Justice on this issue. You can read his report ’Asylum Matters - Restoring trust in the UK Asylum System’ here.
Simon Cook - Action Housing |
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If you would like someone from Action Housing to talk to your group about Asylum or the work that we do please contact us 
