The Afghan Crisis and the need for the U.K. Government to recognise the worth of refugee hosting networks

Positive Action in Housing is geared up and ready to offer homes to Afghan civilians through our Room for Refugees Network.

We are extremely concerned about the escalating humanitarian crisis in Afghanistan.

We fully expect to see a surge in referrals of Afghans in the coming weeks and months similar to the Syrian crisis and urge the U.K. government to recognise the worth of our hosting network.

We have received requests for hosted placements through our refugee hosting network Room for Refugees from Afghan asylum seekers already here and they should be placed in a matter of days.

In the last month alone, Positive Action in Housing has registered 998 volunteer hosts, similar to the numbers who signed up to host at the height of the Syrian crisis. These households are going through the process of host assessment.

We work with over 350 refugee and homelessness organisations across the U.K. to take referrals and place people in homes. We have also worked with local authorities using kinship assessment to place unaccompanied asylum seeking children.

Room for Refugees is fully digitalised having been around for 19 years. We’ve placed over 4,000 refugees and asylum seekers across the U.K. We have thousands of available rooms and properties available in every part of the U.K. that you can imagine. The resource we have in place is vast, structured with a huge scope to help. The programme provides warm, safe homes with hosts to help refugees immediately. Pastoral support is built in from the start.

It is a shame however that the government does not recognise the vast resource on offer. Perhaps it goes against the narrative that people don’t want refugees here , or don’t want to help.

We are very concerned about the approach the Home Office is taking of putting families into hotels. As you know, last week a five year old Afghan boy fell and died from the 9th floor of a hotel allocated by the Home Office. The Home Office is saying that they do not have enough homes to put Afghan refugees into hence their use of hotels.

We urge the U.K. government to work with us to place Afghan families and child refugees in Sade homes. A humanitarian approach is possible. Refugee hosting networks can aid Afghan civilians fleeing for their lives, and those already here. We urge the Home Office to work with us and to increase the scope of the resettlement programme. We also urge the U.K. government to grant an amnesty to those already here.

To sign up to host through Room for Refugees or if your organisation wishes to refer asylum seekers or refugees in need for hosted placements anywhere in the U.K. please go to www.roomforrefugees.com