1. FEANTSA meeting 21st March 2018
Sally Daghlian OBE
Chief Executive, Praxis Community Projects

2. What we do Specialist casework and advice
Housing and destitution services
Group work
Innovating & creating change

3. UK context Demonization – “Hostile Environment”
Blocking access to services
Rising homelessness and destitution
Focus on removal as solution
Immigration Act – internal controls
Brexit bonfire

4. Burden of proof is on the resident
In-country immigration checks
Landlord
Employers
Banks
Homelessness organisations
Health providers
Burden of proof is on the resident
Data sharing

5. Increasing size of undocumented population
Loss of documents
Cost of Home Office fees
Long-standing residents who came under different rules
Poor/no legal advice
Inability to challenge the Home Office
Loss of eligibility to work

6. Homelessness Increased use of No Recourse to Public Funds (NRPF)
Presumption of NRPF
Landlord checks
Inability to challenge
Complexity of immigration rules
Visa delays

7. We work in partnership
Finding pathways out of destitution
Key factors:
Accommodation
Immigration advice
Food and money

8. Street Legal
Linking immigration advisers with homeless outreach services
Praxis providing immigration advice and working with communities
Influencing and training

9. Albert’s story In the UK for 44 years
Lost passport he arrived with – no proof of status
Unable to rent and work – became homeless
Changes in NHS regulations – denied cancer treatment
Not an unique case…