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Writing this in the aftermath of Park Inn and Adnan Walid Elbi reminds me of Ed Daffarn‘s blog about Grenfell. What’s happening in Glasgow has to be documented.
Many people have been moved from hotels to flats, penniless, stripped bare of the meagre belongings they had when Mears Group first moved them out of settled homes at the height of the lockdown. Being moved out of hotels and into empty homes, is a case of starting all over again. Across Glasgow, an agile network of volunteers is delivering survival packs to people, mobilising within a couple of hours. They are a lifeline during this deadly accommodation crisis.
Yesterday, Thursday, we distributed crisis support across the city – pictured above is our team before heading out to deliver crisis support to hotels and newly accommodated asylum seekers. Thanks to Alison and Stephen, Seonad and Umran for stepping into help. They visited parts of Glasgow and met with people we assist. I hope they come forward to tell their stories.
On Monday August 3rd, I wrote to Chris Philp, Immigration Minister, and the Home Office on behalf of 7 asylum seekers, citing concerns about the handling of their moves to residential accommodation. As of today there are three people left in Tartan Lodge.
On the same day, Mir says he was moved into a dirty flat at West Whitby Street with a destitute man sleeping in the hallway as well as his new “flatmate”. He promptly refused it and was taken back to Tartan Lodge. The Home Office sent him a “Failure to Travel” letter dated August 4th 2020 seeking an explanation of why he failed to travel. Many people are frightened to challenge the Home Office or Mears. The fear is real.
The elderly Professor and his wife – also from Tartan Lodge, moved into a clean flat but got locked out and stayed with an acquaintance for the night until they could get someone to help them back in. When you have no family, and the office is closed for the day, who helps you in this sort of crisis?
The previous week, Thursday 30 July 2020, Mears moved Falah, and Arabic speaker, from Tartan Lodge to his accommodation. He had never seen it nor was he informed of the address beforehand. Its the norm for Mears. He says the accommodation was dirty and occupied by a man who appeared aggressive with mental health problems. The man did not speak the same language as Falah and neither could communicate with each other. Park Inn is still a fresh memory for many asylum seekers in Glasgow, Falah was frightened to move in. He refused to stay and returned to Tartan Lodge.
The next day, Friday 31 July, a young man from Iraq called Karam, also an Arabic speaker, was moved into the same accommodation. No risk check appears to have been done. No checking on the mental wellbeing of the man in the flat. Perhaps he was too young to stand up for his rights as Falah did. He signed for the accommodation, and spent the night terrified he might be attacked, blocked his door with a suitcase and a flimsy bin. Karam fled early next morning with his unpacked bags in a taxi we booked for him.
Anne Mclaughlin MP has agreed to take up Falah and Karam’s cases as they are her constituents. The respected housing lawyer, Jalal Chaudhry of Lata & Co has agreed to provide legal representation. We wrote a second letter to the Home Office, Mears Group today.
Ahmed – not his real name – is a young man with cancer who has been in hotel accommodation for 5 months. During this time he has had no money to buy even a piece of fruit and like all asylum seekers is forbidden to work.
Ahmed had cancer surgery on Wednesday. He returned to the hotel on Thursday only to be told he was being moved “soon”. He was fearful of who he might be placed with and of having no contact with the hospital and doctors as there will be no WiFi in the accommodation and top ups for data are expensive. The things we don’t think about.
He called late Thursday to say Mears was moving him today – Friday. Where? He did not know. He was still wearing his surgical stockings from the operation. He has no money to make that move more humane for himself. We cannot mobilise volunteers to mitigate the cruelty to people left vulnerable by the asylum system until we know where in the city he is being moved. Some people are given as little as £15 or less when they move. Aspen cards often don’t work as people find it hard for it to be activated.
One woman is sharing a flat with a suicidal flatmate. We have asked Mears to move her. Ursula – not her real name – spends her days outside the house as much as possible, riding a bike that was donated to her through one of our volunteers, studying for exams so that she can move on from this hell.
All of this is standard Mears practice, people do not know where they are going to be moved, if the place is dirty , or if the person they are sharing with is mentally well or so far gone they might be dangerous to themselves or them (Remember Park Inn?). Those with no language, mobile data or smartphone are left utterly lost and isolated.
These are not isolated cases. Its the norm in Glasgow since Mears took this contract on promises of compassion and goodwill. We have at least nine more years to contend with.
Our staff and volunteers are dealing with several emergencies daily – centred around people being left hungry, without mobile data or unable to travel. People have been left for months in hotels without any money at all.
They have ZERO resources for food, travel mobile phone top ups, or cleaning products for dirty accommodation when they move to bare, often dirty flats.
It’s a stark choice. Do you buy a little food or go hungry? Do you buy a phone top up or go incommunicado because the place you are staying in does not have wifi and data is costly? That’s why food and wifi are basic human needs, not a luxury item.
Reminds me of Adnan Walid Elbi’s wallet which we collected two weeks ago from Partick Police Station. It was empty except for his home office ID card and an empty blue plastic travel card holder.
People tell us about the fear of Mears staff affecting their asylum claim and not daring to complain too much, of being told not to speak to “outside organisations”.
We have written to the Mears Board, who include David Miles CEO, and Dame Julia Unwin (former CEO of the Joseph Rowntree Foundation ), the Home Office, the Glasgow City Council Social Work Department and others with a relevant interest, to provide some insight to the extent of the crisis and misery we are dealing with in the hope that someone takes action by listening and addressing people’s suffering instead of simply executing a contract.
There is an ongoing humanitarian crisis in this city. We are a small charity doing hands on work at a time of great uncertainty and risk to our staff and volunteers. We are mitigating some of the worse misery with a proactive team taking food, household items and more as people are moved – functionally destitute – into accommodation.
There is no choice. If we don’t do this, then people will suffer, its a terrifying thought that another person might die or get hurt. I write this with anger that the people of Glasgow are clearing up the mess while Mears picks up a £1.2B contract. We should invoice them for the cost to Glaswegians. Regardless, we will continue to speak out about it and document the evidence of cruelty and neglect.
You can help by supporting our Call To Action , and giving a much needed financial donation. Regular donations help us respond directly and quickly to these crises and reach those in greatest need in a way that the bigger establishment charities can’t.
Robina Qureshi
Director