Make 56 days permanent
“There isn’t such a sense of desperation now”
In December last year, the government approved a six-month pilot extending the eviction period for moving on from asylum accommodation after being recognised as a refugee to 56 days (it was previously 28 days). We wrote on the blog about how quickly we started to see the positive impact of this for young people: www.youngroots.org.uk/blog/56-day-pilot-refugees-facing-homelessness
The six months is now up and we await the government decision about the future of the scheme. The benefits of having a more reasonable period to find a new home are abundantly clear – for young refugees, for local authorities, and for support organisations like Young Roots. We sincerely hope the government takes heed of this evidence and confirms the 56 day eviction period as permanent change. If you agree, you can write to your MP to tell them!
Why 56 days should be here to stay:
Under the 56 day eviction period, most young people are in receipt of universal credit by the time they leave asylum accommodation – essential for living, and for getting a new home. Before, when people only had 28 days until they had to leave the asylum accommodation, almost nobody was receiving it in time.
It’s much easier for young people to open a bank account – they have time to receive their bank card at their asylum accommodation before they leave, making a massive difference for accessing universal credit and preventing destitution.
With 56 days, there is time to refer young people to hosting schemes such as Refugees at Home or to supported accommodation – this is vital for preventing people from having to sleep in the streets. These essential services require processes such as assessments and checks that just weren’t possible to complete in 28 days.
Support organisations such as Young Roots are less overwhelmed – with only 28 days to find somewhere to live, there is a much higher proportion of young people needing crisis casework.
It is feasible to find a room in private rented accommodation for a young person before they are evicted from their asylum accommodation – this was largely impossible when we only had 28 days to do so
Even in cases when a hostel place or a room in supported accommodation can’t be secured within 56 days, the young person will have be on the waiting list for longer and so the gap without accommodation is considerably reduced
It takes time to establish that someone should be treated as priority need by the local authority (meaning they are more vulnerable than other people and therefore the local authority must prevent their homelessness). Relationships of trust need to be built for someone to disclose the things that mean they are vulnerable, and it takes time to gather the evidence to prove this vulnerability to the local authority. With 56 days, we are in a better position to do this.
With 56 days, there is more time to engage with local authorities when a homelessness application has not been dealt with correctly, meaning less need to to escalate via legal intervention.
One of our caseworkers shared: “The additional time has offered young people vital breathing space to access services, connect with support networks, and begin planning their futures with greater stability and dignity."
Another Young Roots staff member said, “When I am encountering young people being evicted from their asylum accommodation, they aren’t coming to us as stressed as before and have been more calm – there isn’t such a sense of desperation now.”
It has been so encouraging to see first-hand the positive impact of this change – it's just common sense that 28 days is not long enough to find somewhere to live, and contributes to the homeless crisis. We all now need the assurance that this change is here to stay.