Supporting newly recognised refugees

With the rate of newly recognised refugees being made homeless by the shift in the Home Office policy, it can be very hard to know how to act in the best interest of any potential guests and to understand how you may be able to support them into hosting.

If you are supporting individuals affected by this change, here’s how you can put them in touch with Refugees at Home, and what we need in order to move forward with a guest application.

Being a referrer to R@H means that you are usually a caseworker in a registered charity that employs paid staff.  We ask for this, not because we don’t respect and value the role volunteers play in supporting asylum seekers and refugees, simply that we ask a lot of referral partners, and expect them to be available and ready to deal with any problems that arise and they are best placed to offer immediate help should something go wrong.

We do offer a self-referral process for guests who have refugee status and a good level of English and helping someone to apply in this way might be the best thing you can do to help. When we know someone has a support system in place with people they know and trust helps build our confidence in placing someone.

Self referrals (where a guest refers themselves for hosting)

The hosting we provide is only ever a stop-gap and it is essential all guests have a move on plan, or are exploring alternative accommodation options. Please contact your local council for information on a Personal Housing Plan and local refugee organisations in your area to see if they have capacity to provide housing support and information.

Help us find new hosts

With this increase in claims being approved brings an increase in hosts required. Please do help spread the word about Refugees at Home and our need for new hosts across the UK.  Information about hosting is available on our website.