Spotlight on supporting non-EU destitute migrants Sally Daghlian Praxis CEO

Praxis core purpose to provide help and support for newly arrived and long settled migrants to ensure that they are able to live in safety, meet their essential human needs and overcome the barriers they face to integrate, develop and thrive in the UK.

We seek to challenge exclusion build solidarity improve policy and service provision by drawing on the lived experience of migrants and by supporting migrant communities for their voices to be heard.

Global context Conflict /war – refugee movements Human trafficking Forced labour (slavery) Globalisation Development Most refugees hosted in the south, less than 1% in the UK

Syrian refugees - more than 3.8 million in neighbouring countries.

UK context Demonization – hostile environment Blocking access to services – housing, health Focus on Reconnections as the only solution Immigration Bill – internal controls/criminalisation Rising migrant/immigrant homelessness and destitution

Praxis housing work Praxis Work in partnership – not a housing agency Testing solutions Finding pathways out of destitution 3 key elements  Accommodation  Food/money  Specialist immigration advice

Praxis Temporary Homes Project Andy Ludlow Award for innovation in homelessness Volunteer hosts; vicarage; convent; Metropolitan flat Not just houses/beds but homes immigration advice and hardship fund

Commonweal- Praxis NRPF Project Commonweal Housing - housing solutions to social injustice Seeking to make bold experiments in housing Using social investment Testing innovative solutions Learning and sustainability/replicability

The model – for London Social investors buy 7 properties 2.5million commitment – Big Society Capital, City Bridge Trust, Trust for London, Esmee Fairbairn Foundation Commonweal lease properties to Praxis Properties, specs and locations agreed with Praxis 7 year project External evaluation from the beginning

Overall Purpose To provide quality accommodation and support for NRPF families Under contract to local authorities (Sec 17 supported families) Social support and specialist immigration casework – quicker resolution Cross subsidise free bed spaces for single NRPF Testing a model

So far... still in set up phase (5 houses) Agreements with Croydon and Islington councils – NRPF teams; children’s services 21 people housed, including 10 children Average stay 4.4 months Evaluation framework in development

Challenges Finding suitable properties – price location layout Regulations – HMO, certificates of lawful development vs planning

Challenges cont... Local authorities costs/contracts speed referrals staff turnover For Praxis – setting up a housing project as a small non-housing organisation - risk

Challenges cont... Single family occupancy Original model to have mixed households Move-on Home Office decision making Local authority response time Unbudgeted costs

Who needs the service? People who came to the UK as children but discover they have no status as adults Foreign national parent(s) of British children, with NRPF (often lone women) and unable to work. Long settled immigrants who have lost documentation and need to prove rights People in transition/limbo awaiting Home Office decisions – unable to work or claim

Words of a service user “I paid taxes for 13 years and I cannot play my part. I am frustrated…my children suffer... It has affected me and my mental health.... I am a burden on the NHS I used to work for... We are just collateral my children are British citizens and I am asked to let them struggle. I used to provide for them and give emotional support”

Case study – Alice Brought to UK from Ghana age 3 when her mother died and left in the care of an aunt. Alice became homeless age 18 (and pregnant) when her aunt died of cancer. Presented at local council housing - told that she has no right to be in the UK and NRPF. Sofa surfing; transactional arrangements; roofless at 5 months pregnant Eventually accommodated by social services and referred to Praxis Solution – legal case – is under 25 and has spent more than half her life in UK but this has to be evidenced and no legal aid.

conclusions Too early to say whether the model is sustainable but the need is there Supporting Alice means we can house a single woman with no recourse to public funds (and who has no right to work)

Thank you Questions?